Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have argued about the merits of guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which have been described as both too strict and too lax, too rigid and too changeable. Imagine how bitter an already rancorous debate would have been if the CDC had the power to command, as well as recommend, the best methods for reducing virus transmission. Except according to the CDC, it does have that power. The agency's legal defense of its nationwide eviction moratorium, which it recently extended for another month, implies that the CDC has...