A majority of Supreme Court justices expressed doubt over whether the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness plan is legal in back-to-back oral arguments on Tuesday.
Members of the court heard two cases, Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown, during which justices asked questions meant to assess whether the lawsuits had legal standing and whether Biden was overstepping executive authority in canceling up to $20,000 in student loan debt for some 40 million borrowers.
Justices primarily asked questions along ideological lines, though Amy Coney Barrett suggested she could possibly shift in support of Biden’s program given her skepticism of arguments that the state of Missouri had standing to bring the case forward on behalf of the financial harm loan servicer MOHELA could incur. Even if she defects, however, that would not be enough to form a majority.
The bottom line, experts say, is that it appears likely student loan forgiveness will get thrown out based on the Supreme Court’s desire to limit executive power.
“Other than Barrett, I didn’t hear another conservative focus on this in a way that showed that this is an issue that we’re struggling with,” Jed Shugerman, a professor who studies executive branch powers at Fordham Law School, says.
What the justices asked
Oral arguments began with a question by Justice Clarence Thomas, who echoed a common theme among the conservative justices: whether there was a clear provision in the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act that permitted the Secretary of the Department of Education to offer this program. The HEROES Act forms the legal basis for Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. It allows the Education Secretary to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision” that apply to…
