So far, 26 million applications…Procedures for cancelling $430 million loan forgiveness. The Supreme Court on the 30th related to two lawsuits against the policy that the Biden administration exempted student loan debt up to $20,000 for households with an annual income of less than $125,000 ($250,000 for couples combined) in August of last year.
As a result, the policy of cancelling student loans worth a total of $430 billion, which President Biden had been promoting with a bet right before the midterm elections, was in the process of being scrapped. In addition, it is expected that this ruling will inevitably cause confusion throughout society, including the 40 million people who have expected to benefit from it.
The Supreme Court, which was reorganized so that conservative justices account for a majority (6 to 3) during the days of former President Donald Trump, ruled that the preferential admission system for minorities in universities was also unconstitutional the day before. The lawsuits were filed by two individuals in six Republican-controlled states and two in Texas.
Six conservative justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, have made it clear that the administration needs congressional approval and has no independent authority to launch such a costly program. The Biden administration has argued that there is sufficient legal authority to cancel such student loans under the HEROES Act introduced in 2003, but the Supreme Court dismissed the claim.
In a majority opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts, “While the Department of Education argues that the law grants the authority to cancel $430 billion in principle on student loans, it does not.” It is allowed to be, but not so that the law itself can be rewritten from scratch.” Reuters reported, citing a White House official, that the White House strongly opposes the court’s decision, and that President Biden will come up with a new plan during the day for student loan relief.
In Washington, the prevailing view was that the conservative Supreme Court would put a brake on policy ahead of this ruling. Some analysed that there was no possibility that the president would raise his hand, but as a result, there was no change.
According to the New York Times (NYT), since the announcement of the student loan relief policy, 26 million people have applied for student loan relief, and the government has approved 16 million of them. There have been no cases where the indemnity process has been carried out yet.