The court ruled, by a majority of six of the nine justices, that the government overreached its duties by adopting this costly program without explicit authorization from Congress.
The government “cancelled some $430 billion in federal loans, completely erasing the debt of 20 million borrowers and lowering the average amount owed by another $23 million, from $29,400 to $13,600,” said Conservative Justice John Roberts on behalf of the most.
“The issue here is not whether something should be done, it is who has the authority to do it,” he estimates.
“Among the most important powers of Congress is its control of the purse,” Roberts wrote.
This ruling represents a severe setback for the 80-year-old president, who is running for re-election in 2024.
In the United States, higher education is expensive, and nearly 43 million people take out federal student loans totaling $1.630 trillion.
At the start of the pandemic, the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump froze repayment of these loans under a 2003 law that allows it to “relieve” student debt holders in the event of a “national emergency.”
This measure, which has been extended uninterruptedly to date, expires on August 31.
In anticipation of this deadline, Biden announced last August his intention to write off $10,000 of the debts of borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 of former scholarship recipients.
26 million applications were filed, according to the White House.
The courts blocked the implementation of this plan after a coalition of red states and two students who were not eligible for the $20,000 forgiveness filed suit.
They accused the Democratic government of using taxpayer money without congressional approval. They estimate that the 2003 law, invoked by President Biden, covers the freezing of debt and not its cancellation.
“We agree with them,” Judge Roberts wrote.
The three “progressive” judges of the Supreme Court in Washington they disagreed, as expected.
