On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court handed President Joe Biden and his administration a strong rebuke.
In a 6-3 decision, the conservative majority of the court struck down Biden’s controversial decision to cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt based only on his say so and without Congress’ clear approval.
“…this leads the Court to conclude that ‘[t]he basic and consequential tradeoffs’ inherent in a mass debt cancellation program ‘are ones that Congress would likely have intended for itself,’” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the majority.
The president overstepped his authority in unilaterally declaring millions of Americans could benefit from up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness, without going through Congress. This “generous” plan would have saddled taxpayers – the majority of whom have not gone to college themselves – with at least $400 billion in debt.
“This is a major question, obviously, because it costs so much and it is such a major policy, and using the major questions doctrine you have to have a clear statement, and we have the opposite,” says Caleb Kruckenberg, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed the first lawsuit against the loan cancellation. “We have nothing like a clear statement that would authorize this.”
There’s much to say about the general unfairness of such random debt cancellation. But where Biden erred most is in how he went about delivering on a campaign promise to offer borrowers relief.
Give it up, Joe.Even some Democrats know blanket student loan forgiveness is a raw deal.
Biden runs afoul of the Constitution, again
While Biden has every right to draw attention to the high costs of college – and propose policy solutions – he had zero right to wave his presidential pen and declare billions in debt “forgiven.”
For one thing, Biden’s order did nothing to address skyrocketing tuition and future debt burdens.
Most importantly, however, it is contrary to the Constitution. Congress must approve such large appropriations – not the president (even Biden mistakenly said that Congress had passed the forgiveness plan). The president could have gone through the legislative branch, but he didn’t want to take the time and hard work to make that happen, even when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.
Rather, it was politically expedient for him to declare the debt forgiven last August, just months ahead of the midterms. And he used the pandemic as rationale through the HEROES Act, even though by summer 2022, the COVID emergency was all but over.
Student loan debt relief ruling:Biden’s student loan plan is an abuse of power. Supreme Court must rule against it.
“The HEROES Act allows the Secretary to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, but does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal,” the court’s majority opinion states.
Biden must have known his plan wouldn’t stand scrutiny from the courts. His other COVID-era overreaches didn’t.
In 2021, the Supreme Court overturned the administration’s continuation of the eviction ban. And in January 2022, the court ruled against the Biden mandate to force COVID-19 vaccination or testing requirements on large businesses. Biden’s airplane mask mandate was similarly tossed by a federal judge.
Don’t expect this issue to go away
While the Supreme Court has put the kibosh on this particular plan, don’t expect Biden or Democrats to give up on the idea.
There’s already speculation about “other avenues” Biden could pursue through executive or administrative action. Liberal activists will demand it.
Why wouldn’t they? The president has told them for years that they deserve the relief and that it’s the right thing to do. It’s become another de facto entitlement, without any concern about whether there is constitutional backing for it – or even whether it’s a good idea.
Biden has already pushed the limits on other measures (to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars), from multiple extensions of the student loan repayment and interest pause to beefed-up income-driven repayment plans that greatly reduce monthly loan payments for borrowers.
Depending on how extensively the president tries to execute these backdoor measures, expect to see Biden’s plans end up in court once again.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques
