WASHINGTON—A federal judge on Friday allowed the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium to remain in place, saying she didn’t have authority to block it despite her misgivings about the ban’s legality.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington said she was bound by a previous ruling from the appeals court above her that said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention likely possessed the authority to impose an eviction ban in the name of public health.

Judge Friedrich in May ruled the previous version of the moratorium was unlawful because it exceeded the CDC’s powers, but that ruling never went into effect while litigation continued. In her Friday decision, she suggested the new ban suffered from the same legal problems. “But the court’s hands are tied,” she wrote in a 13-page opinion.

If there is to be a judicial order blocking the latest eviction ban, it will have to come from a higher court, the judge, a Trump appointee, said.

The moratorium has protected millions of tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic but created financial hardships for some landlords unable to collect rental income they rely upon for their own livelihoods.