June 30, 2023, 10:52 PM
June 30, 2023, 10:52 PM
The United States Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, on Friday invalidated a key measure by Democratic President Joe Biden to cancel part of the colossal student debt.
The court ruled, by a majority of six of the nine justices, that the government overreached its duties by adopting this costly program without explicit authorization from Congress.
The government “discharged some $430 billion in federal loans, completely erasing the debt of 20 million borrowers and lowering the average amount owed by another $23 million, from $29,400 to $13,600,” said Conservative Justice John Roberts on behalf of the majority.
“The issue here is not whether something should be done, it is who has the authority to do it,” he estimates.
“Among the most important powers of Congress is its control of the purse”Roberts wrote.
This ruling is a severe setback for the 80-year-old presidentwho aspires to be re-elected in 2024 and has the support of the popular classes to do so.
Biden “strongly” disagrees with this ruling and will “make it clear” later, said a White House source who requested anonymity.
But the sentence points to a blow to the pocket of millions of Americans.
In the United States, higher education is very expensive, and nearly 43 million people take out federal student loans totaling $1.630 trillion.
At the start of the pandemic, the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump froze repayment of these loans under a 2003 law that allows it to “relieve” student debt holders in the event of a “national emergency.”
This measure, which has been extended uninterruptedly to date, expires on August 31.
In anticipation of this deadline, Biden announced last August his intention to write off $10,000 of the debts of borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 of former scholarship recipients.
26 million applications were filed, according to the White House.
The courts blocked the implementation of this plan after a coalition of red states and two students who were not eligible for the $20,000 forgiveness filed suit.
They accused the Democratic government of using taxpayer money without congressional approval. They estimate that the 2003 law, invoked by President Biden, covers the freezing of debt and not its cancellation.
“We agree with them,” Judge Roberts wrote.
The three progressive judges on the court disagree.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court itself was exceeding its powers.
He argued that none of the states that sued to challenge Biden’s policy had standing to do so, since they neither had a vested interest nor had they been harmed by the policy.
“We don’t allow plaintiffs to sue just because they oppose a policy,” he said.
It also argued that the 2003 law allows this policy, and that the court based its decision primarily on the impact of the cancellation on national finances.
“The result is that the court supplants Congress and the Executive Branch in formulating the national student loan forgiveness policy,” he wrote.
