Conservative Supreme Court justices cast doubt on the legality of President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student debt for about 40 million borrowers. The policy aimed to erase $430 billion in student debt for Americans who obtained loans to pay for college and other post-secondary education, and for recipients of Pell grants to students from lower-income families.
The U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student debt for Americans making under $125,000. The fate of the policy, which was a campaign promise, is in the balance as the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority.
Arguments were presented by Biden’s administration on Tuesday in appeals against two lower court rulings that blocked the policy. The legal challenges were made by six conservative-leaning states and two individual student loan borrowers opposed to the eligibility requirements of the plan.
Chief Justice John Roberts and conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh sparred with Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who was arguing for Biden’s administration, over the policy’s legal underpinnings and fairness.
The major questions doctrine, a judicial approach used by conservative justices to invalidate major Biden policies deemed lacking clear congressional authorization, was applied to scrutinize the policy.
The Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act, a federal law passed in 2003, authorizes the U.S. education secretary to “waive or modify” student financial assistance during war or national emergencies.
The HEROES Act was relied upon by the administrations of President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Biden, a Democrat, who paused student loan payments and halted interest from accruing in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prelogar sought to cast Biden’s plan as “the administration of a benefits program” rather than an assertion of regulatory power not authorized by Congress. Roberts presented Prelogar with a hypothetical scenario involving a person who borrowed to pay for college and another who borrowed to start a lawn-service business to highlight the plan’s potential unfairness.
Some Republicans have attacked Biden’s plan as unfair because it benefits certain Americans – colleged-educated borrowers – and not other people. However, Prelogar responded to such “fairness” concerns raised by conservative justices by saying that “you can make that critique of every prior” government relief to various Americans under the HEROES Act.
The liberal justices raised doubts that the states had the proper legal standing to sue based on their claim that Biden’s plan would harm a single Missouri-based student loan servicing company, noting that the business did not itself bring the challenge.
The Supreme Court is due to release its rulings on the matter by the end of June. Biden wrote on Twitter, “The relief is critical to over 40 million Americans as they recover from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. We’re confident it’s legal.” Hundreds of demonstrators, including borrowers, rallied outside the court to support Biden’s relief plan.
The student debt crisis in the US has been growing and is now more than $1.7 trillion. The average student loan debt for a 2019 college graduate was $28,950, and the pandemic only worsened the situation for many borrowers. The Biden administration’s plan would be a significant step towards alleviating the financial burden on millions of Americans, particularly those from low-income backgrounds.
However, the Supreme Court’s conservative justices’ skepticism over the policy’s legality has raised concerns among advocates for student loan debt relief. They argue that canceling student debt is not only a matter of economic fairness but also racial justice, as Black and Latino students are more likely to take on higher levels of debt to finance their education.
The issue of student debt cancellation has been a hot topic in the United States, with President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive up to $10,000 in federal student debt for Americans making under $125,000 drawing attention.
The conservative majority in the Supreme Court has, however, cast doubts on the legality of this policy. The legal challenges against the policy were made by six conservative-leaning states and two individual student loan borrowers who opposed the eligibility requirements of the plan.
The major questions doctrine, a judicial approach used by conservative justices to invalidate major Biden policies deemed lacking clear congressional authorization, was applied to scrutinize the policy. While the liberal justices raised doubts about the proper legal standing of the states to sue, the conservative justices sparred with the Biden administration over the policy’s legal underpinnings and fairness.
If the policy is struck down, it would be a significant setback for the millions of Americans struggling with the student debt crisis, particularly those from low-income and minority backgrounds.
The court’s rulings on the matter are due by the end of June.
