January 1, Judge Blocks Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…
1968: U.S. Supreme Court – Epperson v. Arkansas, court declares unconstitutional Arkansas law banning teaching evolution in public schools.

A federal judge in Texas has blocked President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, ruling that the executive branch doesn’t have the authority to administer the plan.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, found that the program is “an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power.”

In his 26-page ruling, Pittman wrote that the widespread student debt relief plan is “a complete usurpation of congressional authorization implicating the separation of powers required by the Constitution.”

Prior to the Texas court’s decision, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri, had already temporarily halted the program. The plan was placed on pause as the appeals court considers a separate lawsuit brought by six Republican-led states.

The Biden administration announced on Nov. 3 that nearly 26 million Americans had applied for relief through the program. Under the plan, individuals earning less than $125,000 a year, or couples earning less than $250,000, would be eligible for up to $10,000 of federal student loan forgiveness.

Those opposed to the plan argue that it’s too costly. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that it would cost $400 billion over the next 30 years.

But whether the loan relief program “constitutes good public policy is not the role of this Court to determine,” Pittman wrote. Instead, his ruling focused on government overreach.

“No one can plausibly deny that it is either one of the largest delegations of legislative power to the executive branch, or one of the largest exercises of legislative power without congressional authority in the history of the United States,” he wrote.

The Biden administration said they “strongly disagree with the District Court’s ruling on our student debt relief program.”

“The President and this Administration are determined to help working and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents – backed by extreme Republican special interests – sued to block millions of Americans from getting much-needed relief,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre said that the White House has already filed an appeal. The pause on student loan payments is set to expire on Jan. 1, and borrowers likely won’t have a final answer on debt relief for some time.

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Sources: NPR | Reuters