The justices of the US Supreme Court on Tuesday began hearing arguments to decide the fate of President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel $430 billion in student debt for about 40 million borrowers.
The nine justices are weighing the Biden administration’s appeal of two lower court rulings blocking the policy that he announced last August in legal challenges brought by six conservative-leaning states and two student loan borrowers opposed to the plan’s eligibility requirements.
Under the Democratic president’s plan, the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student debt for Americans making under $125,000 who took out loans to pay for college and other post-secondary education and $20,000 for recipients of Pell grants awarded to students from lower-income families.
About 26 million people have applied for debt forgiveness, and 16 million applications have been approved. However, because of court rulings, all the relief is on hold. The Education Department stopped taking applications in November because of legal challenges to the plan.
According to a report in Reuters, hundreds of demonstrators jammed the sidewalk in front of the court building, rallying in favor of Biden’s relief plan. In a message posted to Twitter, Biden wrote, “The relief is critical to over 40 million Americans as they recover from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. We’re confident it’s legal.”
The policy, intended to ease the financial burden on debt-saddled borrowers, could face scrutiny by the court under the so-called major questions doctrine.
Biden’s administration has said the plan is authorized under a 2003 federal law called the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act, that allows student loan debt relief during wartime or national emergencies.
Many borrowers experienced financial strain during the COVID-19 pandemic, a declared public health emergency. Beginning in 2020, the administrations of President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Biden, a Democrat, repeatedly paused federal student loan payments and halted interest from accruing, relying upon the HEROES Act.
In the legal challenge brought by individual borrowers Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor, Texas-based U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman ruled the student loan forgiveness program lacked “clear congressional authorization.” The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put Pittman’s decision on hold pending appeal.
(With inputs from agencies)
