Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-hearing-2128da75fc27ff3bcc0c3804ebd98aa7

Supreme Court seems ready to sink student loan forgiveness
By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative justices holding the Supreme Court’s majority seem likely to sink President Joe Biden’s plan to wipe away or reduce student loans held by millions of Americans.

In arguments lasting more than three hours Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts led his conservative colleagues in questioning the administration’s authority to broadly cancel federal student loans because of the COVID-19 emergency.

The plan has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts.

It was not clear that any of the six justices appointed by Republican presidents would approve of the debt relief program, although Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett appeared most open to the administration’s arguments.

Biden’s only hope for being allowed to move forward with his plan appeared to be the slim possibility, based on the arguments, that the court would find that Republican-led states and individuals challenging the plan lacked the legal right to sue.

[MichMan]

1. If and when it is allowed to stand, the president should cancel every penny of it

Complete 100 % forgiveness of all of it with no income limits. The HEROES Act says nothing about a $10k or $20k limit

[LoisB]

2. Why isn't anyone clamoring for repayment of the PPP "loans"? It seems to me that every day I

read about people taking that money fraudulently and using it to buy sports cars, mansions, and Gucci bags.

[Freethinker65]

8. +100

And the student loan forgiveness program will not forgive the entire loan for those that owe over 10k (or over 20K if they the former student earn too little).

This is forgiveness of a portion of loans for many, that would never have been paid back in full at all.

[FBaggins]

10. Largely because they were never really "loans" to begin with

They were designed by Congress to get money out quickly to employees who would otherwise lose their jobs during the pandemic. They were never going to be paid back.

[LoisB]

11. I can understand that. Maybe a better job of vetting the recipients could/should have been done.

[FBaggins]

12. No question about that. Massive amounts of dollars were lost/stolen

Unfortunately - they knew it was going to happen when it was passed overwhelmingly.

Remember that this was at the height of the pandemic. Frankly, it's a miracle that the banks were able to administer the program on such short notice and get the funds out (with all of their employees suddenly remote and all of their tech teams trying to support it). There was no possible way to do what you or I might consider "due diligence". It never would have worked if the banks hadn't been promised that the government was assuming essentially all of the risk.

[LoisB]

3. Why isn't anyone clamoring for repayment of the PPP "loans"? It seems to me that every day I

read about people taking that money fraudulently and using it to buy sports cars, mansions, and Gucci bags.

[blueinredohio]

4. What?

Color me shocked!

[blueinredohio]

5. What?

Color me shocked!

[bucolic_frolic]

6. "the legal right to sue."

That's the outcome of the case, right there. If Justices accepts their standing, just about anyone could challenge Executive branch rules, orders, regulations on the basis of 'part of that's my money you're spending there!'. I doubt they will go there.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Ah, I wondered yesterday what the Supreme Court was going to take away from us this time

around. I forgot about the student loan forgiveness program. What arcane ruling will they dig up, probably dating from the 1770s or so, that would outlaw this program? Just wait, they'll come up w/ an idiotic rationale or such to justify setting aside the program, which benefits so many.

[underpants]

9. I see several headlines like that. CNN had a bit of a different take on it

Particularly the usury of standing and MOHELA (they administer my loan).


https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-hearing-2128da75fc27ff3bcc0c3804ebd98aa7

A particular flashpoint in the hearing was the states’ arguments that the loan forgiveness program’s potential harms to MOHELA – the Missouri-created entity that services loans in the state – gives Missouri standing. Several justices noted that MOHELA could have filed its own lawsuit challenging the program, but has not.

“Usually, we don’t allow one person to step into another’s shoes and say, ‘I think that that person suffered harm,’ even if the harm is very great,” Justice Elena Kagan told Campbell. “So why isn’t MOHELA responsible for deciding whether to bring this suit?”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett has stood out among the conservatives for asking particularly pointed questions of the GOP states about their standing arguments, setting her apart as a potential pickup vote for the court’s three liberal members.

“If MOHELA is an arm of the state, why didn’t you just strong-arm MOHELA and say you’ve got to pursue this suit,” Barrett asked Campbell, among several questions she asked him about the states’ standing claims.