Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s plan to forgive millions of student loans
LA TimesThe Supreme Court has ruled that President Biden does not have the authority to forgive millions of student loans. Writing for the conservative majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said: “The HEROES Act allows the Secretary to ‘waive or modify’” provisions of the student aid laws, “but does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal.” The court’s conservatives are highly skeptical of government agencies that claim the power to make major changes in the law or to spend large sums of money without the approval of Congress. Advocates of forgiving student loans argue that the Higher Education Act of 1965 gives the U.S. secretary of Education broad authority to “compromise, waive or release” students’ federal debts. The HEROES Act says the Education Department may “waive or modify” any provision of government-funded student loans for any borrower affected by “a war or other military operation or national emergency.” Supporters of student debt relief were assured by President Biden on Friday that he would keep fighting to forgive federal loans. The White House said his plan to forgive some or all of millions of loans would “provide more breathing room to America’s working families as they continue to recover from the strains associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.” But attorneys for Nebraska and five other Republican-led states sued over the plan, arguing the president was “unlawfully invoking the COVID-19 pandemic to assert power beyond anything Congress could have conceived.” In defense of the plan, the Biden administration’s lawyers said Congress had indeed authorized the Education Department to “waive or modify” any provision of the student aid programs.