![]() ![]() “It doesn’t say modify or waive loan balances,” the chief justice said. The law the administration relied on, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, usually called the HEROES Act, gives the secretary of education the power to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision” to protect borrowers affected by “a war or other military operation or national emergency.”Ĭhief Justice Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas were skeptical that the words “waive or modify” allowed outright cancellation. The administration was spurred to act because of the pandemic and its lingering effects. “I’m truly just trying to stay focused and keep on going,” she said. Kaylah Lightfoot, a sophomore at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., described the prolonged court fight over the program as stressful. Biden’s plan would relieve them of vast amounts of debt, they said. Hundreds of protesters outside the court, many of whom were college students from across the country, underscored that point. “That seems to favor the argument that this is a major question,” she said. indicated that the ordinary colloquial meaning of “major questions” encompassed “what the government proposes to do with student loans.”Įven Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal, said the sums involved were legally significant. “We’re talking about half a trillion dollars and 43 million Americans,” Chief Justice Roberts said, referring to the number of affected borrowers. There was something close to a consensus that the debt forgiveness program qualified as major. The chief justice, joined by other members of the court’s six-member conservative majority, invoked the “major questions doctrine,” which requires that government initiatives with major political and economic consequences be clearly authorized by Congress. If the administration is to prevail, it would probably be on the ground that none of the plaintiffs in the two cases had established standing to sue, but that outcome did not seem likely, either. This one is not.”īy the end of about three and a half hours of arguments in two separate cases, the court’s conservative majority seemed likely to dash the hopes of the 26 million borrowers who have already applied for loan relief, including millions who have received approval. “Congress could not have made this much more clear,” Justice Elena Kagan said, adding: “We deal with congressional statutes every day that are really confusing. ![]() The court’s three liberal members said Congress had already acted, by passing a law in 2003 that authorized the secretary of education to address emergencies. ![]() “I think most casual observers would say,” the chief justice said, that “if you’re going to give up that much amount of money, if you’re going to affect the obligations of that many Americans on a subject that’s of great controversy, they would think that’s something for Congress to act on.” ![]()
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