In a significant blow to one of President Biden's prominent campaign promises, the Supreme Court rendered a 6-3 decision on Friday, effectively halting the administration's student debt relief plan. This decision prevents over 40 million borrowers from receiving loan forgiveness and marks a major setback for the President's agenda.
According to The Hill, Chief Justice John Roberts, along with his conservative colleagues, penned the ruling, stating that the executive branch lacks the authority, as granted by Congress, to forgive the estimated hundreds of billions of dollars in student debts. Roberts emphasized that the HEROES Act, cited by the Secretary, does not provide the power to cancel $430 billion in student loan principal.
Clarifying their decision, Roberts added, "We conclude today that the Act empowers the Secretary to 'waive or modify' existing statutory or regulatory provisions governing financial assistance programs under the Education Act, rather than completely overhaul the statute itself."
This high-stakes verdict is likely to curtail President Biden's options for fulfilling his commitment to eliminate $10,000 of student loans for low- and middle-income borrowers. Under Biden's proposed plan, Pell Grant recipients stood to have up to $20,000 of their loans canceled, while other borrowers could have received up to $10,000 in loan forgiveness, provided their individual income was below $125,000 (with the income threshold doubled for married couples).
Last Update: Jun 30, 2023 11:25 am CDT
