Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Update

(AmericanProsperity.com) – As the Biden administration wobbles toward the end of its second year, one of the president’s most controversial moves — his student loan forgiveness scheme, decreed by executive order last August — is still tied up in the courts. The plan has been hit with multiple lawsuits, and it’s already been blocked by the courts twice. Next month the Supreme Court will hear two key suits.

Where student loan forgiveness stands: Legal fight shifts to Supreme Court https://t.co/cGmGh9PfxB pic.twitter.com/8B17uwoOdL

— The Hill (@thehill) January 3, 2023

The August 24, 2022, executive order that promised to write off debt of up to $20,000 per student was welcomed by liberals, but conservatives were outraged at such a reckless spending commitment. A group of six red states immediately challenged it, saying the loss of tax and other revenues from student loan businesses would cause economic damage to their states.

Last November the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a temporary freeze on debt forgiveness. Then, later the same month, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard another case from two men who said the scheme discriminated against them. This time the judge ruled Biden’s program was illegal and ordered a permanent halt.

The Biden administration claims the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students — also dubbed the HEROES Act — gives him the authority to write off student debt during national emergencies. Biden used the pandemic as a smokescreen for the program, even though there was no relationship between either.

The circuit courts don’t seem so sure. In December the Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals in both cases, and the administration’s deadline for submitting its opening brief was January 4. The plaintiffs have to submit theirs by January 27, and the Court will hear oral arguments on February 28. If the justices, six of whom are conservatives, don’t uphold the administration’s appeals against both cases, the loan forgiveness program will be doomed for good.

~Here’s to Your Prosperity!