A Biden Loss in Student Loan Forgiveness Case Would Be Third Defeat in Supreme Court on Executive Overreach

Litigants preparing for oral arguments in the Supreme Court on Tuesday against the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan anticipate victory, based on past high court decisions batting down the administration’s executive overreach. 

“This really is reminiscent of what we saw with the [ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] eviction program, the [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] vaccine mandate program, where the government really acted outside the authority of what it was given on a question of significant economic and political importance that really needed Congress to say this out loud, and the administration can’t do this behind closed doors,” Karen Harned, chief legal officer for Job Creators Network Foundation, told reporters Monday. 

The Department of Education is relying on a post-9/11 law known as the HEROES Act of 2003 (an acronym for Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act) that grants the U.S. secretary of education the authority to allow military troops to delay their student debt obligations during national emergencies.