The Supreme Court struck down President Biden's student loan forgiveness program in a 6-3 ruling on Friday. The program planned to forgive up to $20,000 in debt per person, which was poised to affect over 40 million people, Reuters wrote. The court ruled that Biden and the agency head overstepped their authority in allowing the government to remove the $430 billion federal student loan debt. The decision comes a day after the court ruled against affirmative action.
The opinion specifically rejects the claim that Biden's policy is legal under the 2003 HEROES Act, which allowed debt forgiveness during a national emergency, so that people are not left in "a worse position financially" because of it, explained NBC News. The emergency in question was Covid-19. The previous precedent "requires that Congress speak clearly before a department secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts on behalf of the court's conservative majority. "However broad the meaning of 'waive or modify,' that language cannot authorize the kind of exhaustive rewriting of the statute that has taken place here."
"The Court acts as though it is an arbiter of political and policy disputes, rather than of cases and controversies," wrote Justice Elena Kagan joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in the dissenting opinion. "Who knows — by next year, the Secretary of Health and Human Services may be found unable to implement the Medicare program under a broad delegation because of his actions' (enormous) 'economic impact.'" The decision comes as a blow to Biden who is seeking reelection in 2024.
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