To be an international human rights rogue and to spread the contagion

benfell

It seems there’s this pesky detail that a majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices did not explain their reasoning[1] when they refused to lift[2] the eviction ban that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had imposed[3] and repeatedly extended. The ban was almost certainly to avoid forcing evicted tenants to move in with friends and family, increasing crowding, and exacerbating COVID-19 contagion.[4]

Congress had approved money to help pay overdue rent but local and state authorities have abjectly failed to distribute it.[5]

Of the justices, it seems that only Brett Kavanaugh did explain his reasoning. Which apparently doesn’t amount to a controlling opinion. Which apparently leaves a judge subject to the earlier appellant decision upholding[6] the yet once again extended ban that was extended despite doubts about its legality,[7] despite Kavanaugh’s warning against any extension.[8]

It’s a problem that the U.S. has not ratified[9] the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),[10] If it had, we could be arguing about whether human rights like housing,[11] like health care,[12] like decent jobs that people can actually live on[13] can be subject to market forces.

But the U.S. is one of only four nations in the world to have failed to ratify[14] this pillar of international human rights law.[15] And the ninth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allegedly protecting unenumerated rights,[16] somehow manages not to include rights recognized by nearly every other country in the world.

So now we have a judge who thinks she was right the first time and with whom a majority on the Supreme Court likely agrees, but who is held back by that pesky appeals court decision that overrode her,[17] despite a human right to housing,[18] despite the exigency of a life-threatening pandemic.[19]

All this in the name of that most holy of holies, capitalism.[20]

  1. [1]Brent Kendall, “Eviction Moratorium Left in Place by Judge Despite Legal Doubts,” Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-leaves-new-eviction-moratorium-in-place-11628870224↩
  2. [2]Associated Press, “Supreme Court rejects plea by landlords to lift federal eviction moratorium,” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-06-29/supreme-court-leaves-cdc-eviction-moratorium-in-place↩
  3. [3]John Fritze and Nicholas Wu, “Trump administration announces nationwide eviction moratorium through end of the year,” USA Today, September 1, 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/01/trump-imposes-eviction-moratorium-because-covid-19-pandemic/5686402002/↩
  4. [4]Jenny Schuetz, “America’s inequitable housing system is completely unprepared for coronavirus,” Brookings, March 12, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/03/12/americas-inequitable-housing-system-is-completely-unprepared-for-coronavirus/↩
  5. [5]Jonathan O’Connell et al., “Evictions are about to restart as tenants wait on billions in unspent rental aid,” Washington Post, July 30, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/30/evictions-moratorium-expire-rental-assistance/; Will Parker, “Logjams Are Keeping Much of $47 Billion in Federal Aid From Renters,” Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/logjams-are-keeping-much-of-47-billion-in-federal-aid-from-renters-11623070800; Kyle Swenson, “The eviction moratorium is about to end. Rent relief hasn’t arrived. These renters decided to take action,” Washington Post, June 5, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/06/05/prince-georges-rent-strike-eviction/↩
  6. [6]Brent Kendall, “Eviction Moratorium Left in Place by Judge Despite Legal Doubts,” Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-leaves-new-eviction-moratorium-in-place-11628870224↩
  7. [7]Andrew Ackerman and Siobhan Hughes, “Biden Administration Issues New Eviction Moratorium,” Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-set-to-issue-new-eviction-moratorium-11628022282; Sean Sullivan, Marianna Sotomayor, and Tyler Pager, “Liberals erupt in fury at White House over end of eviction moratorium,” Washington Post, August 2, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/liberal-democrats-biden-anger/2021/08/02/d048fefa-f39d-11eb-a49b-d96f2dac0942_story.html; Jeff Stein et al., “Biden administration moves to block evictions in most of U.S. following liberal backlash,” Washington Post, August 3, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/08/03/white-house-evictions-democrats/↩
  8. [8]Brent Kendall, “Eviction Moratorium Left in Place by Judge Despite Legal Doubts,” Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-leaves-new-eviction-moratorium-in-place-11628870224↩
  9. [9]United Nations, “Ratification Status: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” January 15, 2019, http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-3&chapter=4&lang=en↩
  10. [10]International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, United Nations, General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI), https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx↩
  11. [11]International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, United Nations, General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI), https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx, art. 11 § 1.↩
  12. [12]International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, United Nations, General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI), https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx, art. 12 § 1.↩
  13. [13]International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, United Nations, General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI), https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx, art. 7.↩
  14. [14]United Nations, “Ratification Status: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” January 15, 2019, http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-3&chapter=4&lang=en↩
  15. [15]Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “What are Human Rights?” http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx↩
  16. [16]U.S. Const., amend IX.↩
  17. [17]Josh Gerstein and Katy O’Donnell, “Judge mulls blocking Biden’s new eviction ban,” Politico, August 9, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/09/judge-district-court-eviction-moratorium-biden-502828; Brent Kendall, “Eviction Moratorium Left in Place by Judge Despite Legal Doubts,” Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-leaves-new-eviction-moratorium-in-place-11628870224↩
  18. [18]International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, United Nations, General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI), https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx, art. 11 § 1.↩
  19. [19]Jenny Schuetz, “America’s inequitable housing system is completely unprepared for coronavirus,” Brookings, March 12, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/03/12/americas-inequitable-housing-system-is-completely-unprepared-for-coronavirus/↩
  20. [20]David Benfell, “The capitalist death cult,” Not Housebroken, May 17, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/03/27/the-capitalist-death-cult/↩

2 thoughts on “To be an international human rights rogue and to spread the contagion”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.