Student loan decision: Kagan says court ‘exceeds its proper, limited role’

Justice Elena Kagan admonished the Supreme Court’s decision to block President Biden’s student debt relief plan as an unjustified extension of its role in American governance. 

“In every respect, the Court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our Nation’s governance,” she wrote in the dissent, joined by fellow libeal Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor.  

Kagan said that the court’s first overreach on the student loan case was “deciding it at all,” arguing that opposition to Biden’s policy does not rise to the equivalent of a personal injury, which is necessary for challenging government actions. 

“The result here is that the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness,” she wrote. “Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure. But this Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because (so says the Court) that assistance is too ‘significan[t].’”

The Biden administration had argued that the COVID-19 national emergency gave the Education secretary the authority to “waive or modify” federal student aid programs under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act, a law Congress enacted after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The high court ruled 6-3 against Biden’s debt relief plan, which would have canceled up to $10,000 for most borrowers and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. Some 43 million Americans have student loan debt, amounting to more than $1.6 trillion. The plan was one of Biden’s most significant campaign promises.