The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that President Joe Biden’s proposal to cancel student loans worth tens of billions of dollars was unconstitutional. Former President Donald Trump, who is presently the leading candidate for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, has responded to the decision.
In front of a cheering audience, Trump delivered his comments during a speech at the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors National Summit in Philadelphia. He harshly slammed Biden’s idea for federal student loan forgiveness, which sought to forgive $10,000 for a select group of borrowers.
According to Fox News, the plan would have eliminated some debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually, and Pell Grant recipients would have received up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that President Joe Biden’s proposal to cancel student loans worth tens of billions of dollars was unconstitutional. Former President Donald Trump, who is presently the leading candidate for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, has responded to the decision.
In front of a cheering audience, Trump delivered his comments during a speech at the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors National Summit in Philadelphia. He harshly slammed Biden’s idea for federal student loan forgiveness, which sought to forgive $10,000 for a select group of borrowers.
According to Fox News, the plan would have eliminated some debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually, and Pell Grant recipients would have received up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness.
In Dept. of Education v. Brown, the Supreme Court decided on a 9-0 vote that the plaintiffs lacked standing and dismissed a case involving specific borrowers.
The court found 6-3 in Biden v. Nebraska that the loan forgiveness program was unconstitutional.
The HEROES Act, a post-9/11 law, allows the Secretary of Education to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs… as the Secretary deems necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency,” according to SCOTUS Blog. The Biden administration had relied on this law in defending the plan’s merits.
Student loan cancellation is legal in a number of circumstances. The Education Department was accused of improperly delaying or rejecting hundreds of thousands of petitions for borrower defense to repayment in one case, according to a class action lawsuit. The settlement deal would forgive $6 billion in student loan debt owed by over 200,000 borrowers, repair their credit, and repay their payments.
Additionally, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the cases of Department of Education v. Brown and Biden v. Nebraska, both of which ask the court to strike down President Joe Biden’s August-launched plan to reduce student loan debt. The proposal would eliminate up to $10,000 in student loan debt for those who did not get Pell Grants and up to $20,000 for those who did.
“More than three years after payments were paused and interest rates on the loans were reduced to 0% in March 2020 during the Trump administration and extended multiple times under Biden, student loan interest will begin accruing again on Sept. 1 and payments will be due in October. The Department of Education told FOX Business earlier this month it will notify the more than 40 million student loan borrowers ‘well before payments restart,’” Fox Business reported.
“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,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
“Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancelation plan. We agree,” the justice added.
Roberts also highlighted an earlier claim made by Nancy Pelosi, a former speaker of the House.
In comments she made on July 28, 2021, during a press conference with reporters, Roberts referred to Pelosi’s claim that Biden lacks the authority to administer the forgiveness program on his own.
“People think that the president of the United States has the power for [student loan] debt forgiveness. He does not.” — Nancy Pelosi (July 2021)pic.twitter.com/0iz8uQeKXG
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 30, 2023
“People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress,” Pelosi said at the time, Business Insider reported.
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