SCOTUS invalidates Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.

The Supreme Court Strikes Down Biden’s Controversial Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

The Supreme Court made a significant decision on June 30, voting 6–3 to strike down President Joe Biden’s controversial plan to partially forgive student loans.

In this closely watched case, the six conservative justices invalidated the program, while the three liberal justices voted to uphold it.

Biden introduced the plan in August 2022, which drew criticism for being a constitutionally dubious attempt to assist Democrats in the November 2022 congressional elections. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the plan’s cost at around $400 billion, but the Wharton School suggests it could exceed $1 trillion.

On February 28, the Supreme Court heard two related cases, Biden v. Nebraska (court file 22-506) and Department of Education v. Brown (court file 22-535), back to back.

The Biden v. Nebraska appeal originated from a lawsuit filed by Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina against the federal government.

The other appeal stemmed from a lawsuit filed by two borrowers who claimed that the Department of Education improperly denied them the opportunity to participate in the public commenting process, and that they would have advocated for greater debt relief.

In Biden v. Nebraska, Chief Justice John Roberts authored the court’s majority opinion (pdf).

“Last year, the Secretary of Education established the first comprehensive student loan forgiveness program, invoking the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) for authority to do so.

The Secretary’s plan canceled roughly $430 billion of federal student loan balances, completely erasing the debts of 20 million borrowers and lowering the median amount owed by the other 23 million from $29,400 to $13,600. … Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancellation plan. We agree.”

In the other case, Department of Education v. Brown, Justice Samuel Alito wrote the court’s unanimous decision (pdf) that dismissed the two borrowers’ claim due to a lack of l