In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9–0 in Dept. of Education v. Brown that the Biden administration’s plan to erase up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients was illegal. This announcement came despite the president having previously announced on the campaign trail that his administration planned to forgive more student loans. A legal expert criticised Joe Biden earlier this week for making this announcement.
In a different but related case, Biden v. Nebraska, the judges disapproved of Biden’s plan to give away student loans, voting 6-3.
The HEROES Act, a post-9/11 law that permits the Secretary of Education to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programmes… as the Secretary deems necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency,” was cited by the Biden administration as support for the plan’s merits, according to SCOTUS Blog.
The government was told to abandon the proposal by the justices because they didn’t agree. However, in the months that have passed, Biden has effectively declared that he will disregard the decision and has persisted in announcing student loan debt cancellations totaling hundreds of billions of dollars.
Now, Biden is coming under fire from Fox News legal commentator Gregg Jarrett for acting more like the autocrat he believes former President Donald Trump will turn into if he is reelected.
The Supreme Court ruling is a novel workaround that they are creating. In doing so, Joe Biden is flagrantly breaking the law, and he then has the hubris and conceit to boast about it, acknowledging that the Supreme Court has recently stopped his scheme and that it is unlawful, Jarrett said on Monday during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
“But that won’t stop me,” he then remarked. You know, Joe Biden can impose his will on any level of lawlessness. In actuality, he is dismantling the Constitution. In the most recent proposal, he modified the way he forgives loans.
The high court has invalidated several iterations of Biden’s proposals for a student loan bailout, and 11 Republican-led states have filed a lawsuit against the version he unveiled in February, Fox News reported.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the new Biden plan is likely to have an impact on 30 million Americans and result in significant reductions in their student debt before the November election.
Reducing loans that have accrued interest beyond their principal amount is the primary goal of the approach. Borrowers would receive relief from accumulated interest of up to $20,000, according to WSJ. In addition, individuals making less than $120,000 or couples making less than $240,000 would be eligible to deduct all interest that has accumulated above the principal amount.
According to Fox, “the outcome would see roughly 23 million Americans have their loans reduced to the principal amount.”
Additionally, debt for borrowers who have kept their loans for decades without fully repaying them would be forgiven under the plan. Forgiveness would be awarded for graduate debt carried for more than 25 years and undergraduate debt held for more than 20 years under this clause.