WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) The US Supreme Court issued a ruling on Friday that blocks a challenge to US President Joe Biden's $430 billion student loan forgiveness plan based on a lack of jurisdiction, vacating and remanding the case in a unanimous decision.
Biden's plan to discharge $10,000-$20,000 in eligible borrowers' debt through the Higher education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act of 2003 would cost approximately $430 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.
The HEROES Act is intended to provide assistance to Federal student loan borrowers as may be necessary due to a national emergency or disaster. Two borrowers sued to enjoin Biden's plan, arguing that the administration failed to follow necessary rulemaking and notice-and-comment procedures.
A US district court previously rejected their argument but nevertheless vacated the plan as substantially unauthorized.
"Because respondents fail to establish that any injury they suffer from not having their loans forgiven is fairly traceable to the Plan, they lack Article III standing, so the Court has no jurisdiction to address their procedural claim," the ruling said.
Article III of the US Constitution limits the US Supreme Court to resolving "cases" or "controversies."
The decision does not resolve the respondents' procedural claim because the court concludes that they lack standing to bring it, Justice Samuel Alito said in the court's majority opinion.
The ruling vacates the judgment of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas and remands with instructions to dismiss, the opinion said.
The court also denies as moot the Department of Education's application for a stay pending appeal, the opinion said.
The respondents claim that if the department had followed standard comment and rulemaking procedures, they would have had a chance to convince them to pursue loan forgiveness through the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, the ruling said.
The respondents cannot show that their purported injury of not receiving loan forgiveness under the HEA is "fairly traceable" to the HEROES Act plan, the ruling said. However, a decision regarding the lawfulness of the plan does not directly impact the respondents' ability to obtain loan relief under the HEA, the ruling also added.
The Supreme Court also issued a ruling on Friday blocking Biden's plan as unauthorized under the HEROES Act, which allows the Secretary of Education to waive or modify financial assistance programs under the HEA, but not to rewrite the statute to cancel billions in student loan principle, the ruling added.
The ruling, on which justices were split six to three, reversed a previous district court ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court's opinion.
