Activists hold a student loan forgiveness rally near the White House on April 27, 2022.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The nine justices of the United States Supreme Court have scheduled high-profile debates on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan for February 28which means borrowers hanging in limbo about the fate of their debts will at least know more soon.
Since Biden unveiled his plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for tens of millions of AmericansRepublicans and conservative groups have filed at least six lawsuits in an attempt to stop the policy, arguing it is executive overreach and unfair in several ways.
Two of those legal challenges succeeded in at least temporarily stopping the president’s plan from moving forward. The Biden administration has appealed those rulings, and the nation’s top court has announced it will have the final say on the policy, which will remain on hold until then.
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The judges will consider lawsuits brought by six GOP-led states that argue the pardon will disrupt state entities that profit from federal student loans, as well as a lawsuit backed by the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy organization, putting featured two borrowers in Texas who are partially or completely excluded from the president’s relief.
The fact that the judges agreed so quickly to take both cases suggests they are eager to make a landmark decision on the policy involving more than 30 million Americans, said Laurence TribeHarvard law professor.
Like other lawyersTribe doesn’t have much hope that the plan will survive the Supreme Court.
“It’s basically a deep freeze of the program until it most likely proceeds with its rollback,” Tribe said.
Higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz agreed that the rush to issue a ruling doesn’t bode well for supporters of the president’s plan, “because ruling against the pardon is less complicated.”
Dan Urmanlaw professor at Northeastern University, also predicted the Supreme Court would rule against Biden. He said Tory judges felt government agencies wielded too much authority and “violated the separation of powers”.
Still, Tribe said the plaintiffs were covering up their frustration at seeing the students get relief in legal arguments over the separation of powers.
“They think elite, selfish kids are getting to the front of the line when others have had to pay back their loans,” Tribe said, adding that Republicans have not disputed that other groups are getting help.
A report last month revealed that one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit in Texas received more than $45,000 in debt forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided loans to small businesses suffering from the covid pandemic.
The Biden administration insists it is acting within the law with its student loan forgiveness plan, pointing out that the Heroes Act of 2003 grants the education secretary the power to waive related regulations. student loans in the event of a national emergency.
The United States operated youunder a declaration of emergency since March 2020.
By Jan. 4, the Biden administration must submit its opening brief in the cases to the court. Responses from complainants are expected approximately one month later.