Prelogar said the states did not have the legal standing to challenge the administration’s actions, and that at any rate, federal law gives the education secretary broad authority to make changes in the student loan program during emergencies, such as the pandemic. The Trump and Biden administrations both invoked the law to suspend loan repayments.
“Congress expressly contemplated that national emergencies would necessitate student-loan relief for affected borrowers, and Congress specifically authorized the secretary to grant such relief without delay,” Prelogar wrote in the administration’s petition to the court. “Here, the secretary determined that relief was necessary to ensure that borrowers do not default on their loans or enter delinquency when payments obligations resume, with potentially irreparable consequences for their credit and financial futures.”
The 8th Circuit ruling arrived days after a federal judge in a separate lawsuit in Texas declared President Biden’s debt relief plan unlawful, effectively barring the Education Department from accepting more applications and discharging any debt. Administration lawyers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to stay the ruling in the Texas case, and for expedited consideration.
Prelogar told the Supreme Court that if it chooses not to lift the 8th Circuit’s injunction, it should accept the case soon and hear the merits of the legal arguments in February. While the court normally waits for the appellate process to play out, it has chosen such a route in hearing challenges to administration policies on immigration and vaccines. Hours after Prelogar’s filing Friday, the justices asked the states to file a response by noon Wednesday.
Biden “can’t unlawfully saddle the college loan debt on millions of hardworking Americans who don’t owe the debt!” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R), one of the officials who filed the suit, wrote in a tweet Friday. “I’ve gone all the way to the Supreme Court before to win & I’ll do it again.”
Biden’s loan relief plan would cancel up to $10,000 in federal student debt for borrowers earning up to $125,000 annually, or up to $250,000 for married couples. Those who received Pell Grants are eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness. To date, more than 26 million people have applied for the debt relief, and 16 million of those files have been reviewed, according to the education department.
The Justice Department released a 25-page memo in August after the relief program was announced that says the program is authorized by a 2003 law, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act (HEROES Act). The act authorizes the education secretary “to alleviate the hardship that federal student loan recipients may suffer as a result of national emergencies.” It was passed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but has been used since then in other times of emergency.
But Republican-led states and other opponents of the program argue that the scale of loan…
Read More: Supreme Court asked to allow Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan
