We were told by the White House the president did not have the authority to extend the moratorium on evictions. Instead, it would take a change in the law. Congress, that bastion of limpness, always hoping to be relieved from the burden of legislating, begged the White House to act on its own. Now, like a bespectacled archeologist, sifting grains of earth for artifacts, Joe Biden has announced, stunningly, that yes, indeed, he has found the power.

President Biden has authorized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to extend the moratorium on evictions in counties experiencing “substantial” or “high” levels of COVID-19 spread. According to current data, those labels could encompass 80-90% of counties. Just for the sake of clarity, landowners in these places may not move against those unable to pay rent. This, in a nation with more than 9 million jobs available, swimming in inflationary cash, and in a governmental system built on property rights.

So, what changed?

First, we witnessed performative politics at its finest. U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), decided to camp out on the steps of the US Capitol in protest of her colleagues’ indecision. Instead of adjourning, she argued for the suffering of Americans still struggling with the fallout from COVID-19. Notice, her location could only have been symbolic. Congress had literally left town, so legislation was never looming. Instead, this was designed to pressure one person, President Biden. As a representative of the progressive left, Bush aimed well, it seems.

Second, the President required at least a fig leaf of authority. After a rigorous review of legal scholars, Biden managed to find a few who argued he could, if one stared enough at the sun, the text of Article 2, and then back again, perhaps, do what was needed alone. Alas, even Biden himself did not seem too convinced, admitting, “The bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster.” Still, a few legal minds were supple enough to encourage the president to ignore the text, structure, and tradition of the U.S. Constitution, as well as a warning from the most recent precedent, and forge ahead.

The left, of course, has cheered the result, just as the right cheered President Trump’s decision to divert military expenditures toward building a wall, and just as the left cheered President Obama’s decision not to enforce immigration law against millions of residents. This, of course, followed on the heels of President Bush, who signed a law on campaign finance reform that he assumed to be unconstitutional. There is a tradition, you see, of presidents simply ignoring the Constitution, much to the praise of their tribe members, while the judicial branch, including SCOTUS itself, mostly looks the other way. If it sounds like this could all collapse into something more like a monarchy, bound only by the pretense of a constitution, you recognize the tune. It is a little ditty we hum to accompany the decline of the republic.

There should be a constant tension between law and politics. The tragedy of the past century is the gradual destruction of the line that divides the two. Law, like the Constitution itself, should set the boundaries of political actions, reigning them in as needed. Some things should be outside the lines. But, American politics has grown to be more like college football than golf. In golf, there is a fastidious adherence to the rules of the game. Players often penalize themselves for infractions, even when others are unaware. This is the rule of law. College football, in contrast, is the most tribal of all our sports. Everything can be forgiven, including recruiting infractions, academic violations, and heavy, illegal hits so long as they are done by our team. There is, in that world, only my team, which is undoubtedly righteous, and the others, who are varying shades of evil. This is the rule of politics.

We should expect nothing less of partisans. For the good of the whole, we must hope for more than a remnant of those who see more. Even the best of motivations, like the desire to help those in need, cannot justify an abuse of power. Some things, like President Biden’s directive, are simply out of bounds. Let’s hope there are still enough referees around to blow the whistle.