On Monday, the final Court announced it would hear another challenge over President Joe Biden's federal education loan forgiveness plan.
With Biden's plan being blocked twice in federal court, the Education Department will need to victory not once but twice in order to finally begin enacting its plan. Having a broadly conservative Court, that possibility seems slim.
In August, the Biden administration announced a sweeping plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student education loans per borrower, allowing individuals creating to $125,000 and couples creating to $250,000 annually to benefit in the plan. Benefits start at $10,000 of forgiveness, rising to $20,000 when the borrower received a Pell Grant. The plan would be enacted under the HEROES Act, a 2003 law giving the Secretary of Education the power to provide federal education loan relief \”in reference to a war or other military operation or national emergency,\” using the Education Department classifying the COVID-19 pandemic as a result an urgent situation.
The plan faced sharp criticism, primarily over its expected cost, which some estimates placed up to $1 trillion within the next decade. The plan's legality seemed to be challenged, with multiple lawsuits filed quickly after Biden's announcement. Last month, a Texas federal court declared the plan unconstitutional. Just 72 hours later, what the law states was blocked again with a Missouri federal court.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Biden administration's challenges to both federal court decisions blocking federal education loan forgiveness. While the Court decided to hear the situation all around the Missouri court's decision earlier this month, it did not announce it would evaluate the Texas ruling until Monday.
While the Missouri ruling surrounds challenging through a coalition of six Republican-led states that object to the plan, the Texas case is sort of reduced scale, having been brought by two student loan borrowers who argued from the plan's legality.
While this latest development provides a sliver of hope for supporters from the Biden administration's plan, it appears highly unlikely that the Education Department will secure wins in the two cases. Using the conservative-leaning Court widely expected to rule from the Education Department, it would appear that Biden's student loan proposal is bound to be scrapped altogether. Oral arguments are set to come from February for the Missouri case and late February or early March for the Texas case, therefore it might be months prior to the fate of Biden's education loan forgiveness plan's known.
It's difficult to be aware of precise political fallout of a loss at the Top court. But with public opinion from the Court so low, especially among Democrats, Biden's doomed attempt to unilaterally forgive student loans could be enough to gain inroads with single-issue voters-even if his attempt is not successful.
