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The Supreme Court struck down the administration’s plan to forgive student loans on Friday, dealing a crushing blow to President Joe Biden. The program was designed to provide up to $20,000 in relief to millions of borrowers who were drowning in debt.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a 6-3 decision on behalf of the conservative supermajority.
It’s going to be a big deal in the 2024 presidential contest when Biden tries to whip up liberals by saying the conservative court stopped him from giving voters debt relief. Republicans, however, are gloating over the decision as a setback to their “bailout” strategy.
Conservatives and Republican-led states opposing the program claim it amounts to an illegal attempt to erase $430 billion in federal student loan debt under the pretext of a pandemic.
Roberts said that the law was revised by the Biden administration and the Secretary of Education.
Roberts stated, “The Secretary’s comprehensive debt cancellation plan cannot fairly be called a waiver—rather than merely nullifying existing provisions, it dramatically augments and expands them.” “Despite the broad interpretation of ‘waive or modify,’ this language cannot permit the kind of comprehensive rewriting of the statute that has occurred in this case.” ”.
The White House attempted to waive the debt by using the HEROES Act’s authority.
“Who has the authority to do something is the question here, not whether it should be done.” ”.
The liberal dissenters claimed that political decisions are essentially being made by the majority.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “The Court acts as though it is an arbiter of cases and controversies, rather than of political and policy disputes.”
The most significant and hotly debated policy decisions in this country are made by the court, she claimed, “once again substituting itself for Congress and the Executive Branch – and the hundreds of millions of people they represent.” ”.
Due to the court’s ruling, borrowers who are the focus of Biden’s plan will not be compensated. October marks the return of monthly payments that were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before a lower court in Texas issued a nationwide injunction in November, the White House said that it received 26 million applications for the program, of which 16 million had been approved for relief.
In 2020 or 2021, the plan would have provided assistance to borrowers who earn less than $125,000 annually ($250,000 for households). He maintained that the relief program was required to prevent a spike in loan delinquencies or defaults among those affected by COVID.
‘Major questions doctrine’ and executive power
According to Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law and CNN Supreme Court analyst, the decision is “another expansion of the so-called’major questions doctrine,’ which allows federal judges to strike down any federal policy of ‘economic or political significance’ because Congress wasn’t sufficiently clear in authorizing the policy.”
Roberts stated: “By any standard, the Secretary’s action has enormous political and economic significance.” ”.
It amounted to the executive branch “seizing the power of the Legislature,” according to Roberts. ”.
“The power to control the purse is one of Congress’s most significant authorities,” he continued.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined Kagan in denouncing the court’s decision as well as the larger pattern of rulings by the conservative majority that curtailed the executive branch’s authority in accordance with the legal theory known as the “major questions doctrine.” ”.
The legal theory, which states that Congress must expressly speak before granting executive branch agencies the power to take aggressive actions with significant economic or political ramifications, was dubbed “judicially manufactured” and “made-up” doctrine by Kagan.
Her disagreement suggested that the theory might soon be applied to historic government initiatives like Medicare.
The major-questions doctrine will now be triggered differently as a result of today’s decision, the author wrote. Who knows? Due to the massive “economic impact” of his actions, the Secretary of Health and Human Services may not be able to implement the Medicare program under broad delegation by the following year. ”.
Republicans immediately celebrated the ruling against Biden, causing a political backlash.
On Friday, former vice president Mike Pence claimed that the debt relief plan amounted to a “bailout” that would have funded “elites'” “education” of “hardworking Americans.” ”.
Before declaring that the plan would benefit “bankers and lawyers” in liberal cities, Pence said, “Joe Biden’s massive trillion-dollar student loan bailout subsidizes the education of elites on the backs of hardworking Americans, and it was an egregious violation of the Constitution for him to attempt to do so unilaterally with the stroke of the executive pen.”
The agreement that ultimately passed Congress required Biden to end a pandemic-era pause on student loan payments by the end of this summer. Earlier this year, House Republicans had included an end to student loan forgiveness in their plan to raise the debt ceiling.
“President Biden’s student loan giveaway is ruled UNLAWFUL. The House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, tweeted that the 287 percent of Americans who do not have student loans are no longer compelled to pay for the 13 percent who do.
McCarthy also made fun of former California Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a subsequent tweet, claiming that Biden lacks the power to waive student loan debt.
“The Court called out Pelosi in its decision,” McCarthy tweeted. “I agree with her for once!”.
Biden is under pressure from Democrats to take fresh administrative measures to help student debtors.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated, “The Biden administration has remaining legal avenues to provide broad-based student debt cancellation.” “I call on the administration to do everything in its power to deliver for millions of working- and middle-class Americans struggling with student loan debt, as the suspension of student loan payments is about to expire in a few weeks. ”.
Sen. The progressive Democrat Elizabeth Warren continued, saying, “This fight is not over.” The President needs to utilize his additional tools in order to eliminate student loan debt. Over 40 million diligent Americans are awaiting the assistance that President Biden pledged to them, and they anticipate that this administration will exert all of its resources until they fulfill this promise. ”.
This story has been updated with additional details. Ad Feedback Ad Feedback Ad Feedback Ad Feedback Ad Feedback.
FAQ
Why are states trying to stop student loan forgiveness?
In their lawsuit, the states opposing the policy claimed that the debt cancellation plan violated congressional authority, jeopardized state revenues in the future, and endangered the earnings of state-affiliated companies that fund or service student loans.
What lawsuit is blocking student loan forgiveness?
The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Cato Institute and Mackinac Center for Public Policy in federal court in Michigan. The lawsuit claimed the federal government was operating under an expedited schedule “to evade judicial review” and lacked the authority to forgive the debt. “.
What did the Supreme Court rule on June 30 2023?
DECISION: June 30, 2023: The Court ruled, 6-3, that Colorado could not require a website designer to create expressive designs that convey messages that the designer disagrees with because that would be against the First Amendment. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion.
What happens if courts block student loan forgiveness?
This implies that you will need to start making payments again in the event that loan forgiveness does not occur (or even if it does but leaves your student loan balance unpaid).
Read More :
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/politics/supreme-court-student-loan-forgiveness-biden/index.html
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1176839127/supreme-court-student-loan-forgiveness-decision