What's that, undermining rule of law and the integrity of the system? The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

You don't 'pragmatically' step outside of your constitutionally and/or legally defined boundaries. That is definitionally not pragmatic.

But the CDC's emergency authority delegated to it by Congress is incredibly broad and puts almost no limits on their powers.

If that's true then that's a problem. There are worse things than getting sick.

like what, revolutionary land reform?

the eviction moratorium was implemented because the alternative was a good fraction of the population getting evicted on a very short timescale. the legal and police infrastructure to carry it out simply did not exist, and any attempt would have been overwhelmed with refusal and defensive organizing.

any solution would have been problematic and disruptive to property rights. the CDC exceeding their authority just provided some realpolitik deniability for elected officials, and prevented open revolt.

If that's true, I disagree that it's a problem. Congress gave it this power, if you don't like it, vote for a different congress.

> There are worse things than getting sick.

Disease control codes are as old as law. We live in a society, and part of keeping society running is keeping it healthy.

But not to the exclusion of all other concerns.