SCOTUS to Consider Challenges to Biden Student Loan Bailout in Late February

The Supreme Court released its February argument calendar Monday, revealing the justices will consider two major challenges to the Biden administration plan to forgive millions of borrowers’ student debt on Feb. 28.

Last week, the justices also decided to take up another loan-related challenge in Department of Education v. Brown, in which two plaintiffs argued the Education Department wrongly did not offer a public comment period for the forgiveness plan. The first case to be argued, Biden v. Nebraska, surrounds six Republican-led states’ claims that President Joe Biden‘s plan violated the separation of powers and the Administrative Procedure Act.

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The plan, which could cost an estimated $400 billion, aims to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Meanwhile, Pell Grant recipients would receive an additional $10,000 in debt forgiveness.

The new case involves plaintiffs Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor. Brown is not eligible for the forgiveness because her loans are maintained by commercial entities rather than the Education Department. Meanwhile, Taylor is eligible for the $10,000 in relief but not the $20,000 he would have gotten if he received a Pell Grant.

The Supreme Court left Biden’s plan blocked on Dec. 1 and slated arguments over the matter for February in response to the Justice Department’s request to lift a hold by an appeals court that ruled against the administration in the Nebraska case.

The plan has been paused since mid-October and has been prevented from resuming by an additional appeals court and the justices, a hold that prompted the administration to extend the moratorium on debt repayments until June 2023.

About 26 million people requested forgiveness before the Education Department stopped accepting applications, and the administration said more than 40 million borrowers could be eligible.

The Supreme Court also announced the date for a case that will mark the first time the justices have considered Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, legislation that protects websites on the internet from being held liable for the content posted by users.

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Justices will hear arguments in two Section 230-related cases on Feb. 21 and Feb. 22, the first being Gonzalez v. Google, which surrounds a claim that Google assisted the Islamic State by hosting its recruitment videos on YouTube and argued that Google “recommended ISIS videos to users” via its algorithm, thus making it liable for helping the terrorist organization.

The second related case is Twitter v. Taamneh, which asks whether social media companies can be liable outside of Section 230 for allowing a terror group to use its website.