Justices are asked to block Biden's student-loan relief plan

[mahatmakanejeeves]

EMERGENCY DOCKET

Justices are asked to block Biden’s student-loan relief plan

By Amy Howe
on Oct 19, 2022 at 9:22 pm

A Wisconsin taxpayers group came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking the justices to block the Biden administration’s student-loan forgiveness program while litigation over the program continues in a lower court. Telling the justices that the program would result in “a gargantuan increase in the national debt accomplished by a complete disregard for limitations on the constitutional spending authority,” the group urged the justices to act quickly to put the program, which goes into effect on Sunday, Oct. 23, on hold.

President Joe Biden announced the program, which will cancel as much as $20,000 in federal student loans for borrowers who qualify, on Aug. 24. He relied on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, a law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks that allows the federal government to make changes to student-loan programs to respond to national emergencies. Loan forgiveness, the administration said, is justified under that law as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Brown County Taxpayers Association went to federal court in Wisconsin, seeking to bar the Biden administration from canceling student loan debt. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach threw out the lawsuit, ruling that the group does not have standing to sue. To sustain a lawsuit in federal court, plaintiffs must show that they have suffered (or likely will suffer) particular, concrete harm from the defendant’s conduct. Under Supreme Court precedent, plaintiffs generally cannot satisfy this standing requirement merely by alleging that a challenged governmental policy will harm the public fisc {sic} or increase taxes. Griesbach wrote that the Wisconsin group is seeking to proceed with its lawsuit under “an exception to the general rule against federal taxpayer standing.”

After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit rejected the group’s request to freeze the loan-forgiveness program while it appealed, the group came to the Supreme Court seeking immediate relief.

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Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Justices are asked to block Biden’s student-loan relief plan, SCOTUSblog (Oct. 19, 2022, 9:22 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/10/justices-are-asked-to-block-bidens-student-loan-relief-plan/

[Walleye]

1. Next they will be appealing their parking tickets to the Supreme Court

[AllyCat]

2. They had no problem with the rich having PPP loans forgiven

And yet, if we try to do this for the little folk, it’s illegal to them. There’s even DEMOCRATS/folks at DU who think this!

Money not going to pay the RIDICULOUS interest rates and cost of higher education by the poor and middle class goes DIRECTLY back into our economy, allows people flexibility in employment, and improves their credit.

[Merlot]

3. Side note: rich got PPP loans forgiven, EIDL loans are not forgivable

and guess who got EIDL loans...

[Bayard]

4. This is why we can't have nice things

[CrispyQ]

5. And loan forgiveness for the farmers?

Will they be asking to block that, too?