The saga of United States student loan forgiveness has fallen foul of the Supreme Court, which has ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that President Joe Biden overstepped his authority by introducing a $US400 billion ($A598 billion) plan to cancel or reduce it.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the court’s conservative majority agreed with six Republican-led States in finding that the President had been mistaken in attempting to use the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act to justify his debt relief plan.
That Act was designed to help former students who joined the US military after the terrorist attacks of 2001.
“The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it,” Chief Justice Roberts (pictured) said.
The Court’s majority said the President should have gone to Congress to get legislative approval for the plan.
Mr Biden said he believed the Supreme Court decision misinterpreted the Constitution, and announced new steps to provide relief for student loan borrowers, vowing the Department of Education would not refer borrowers to credit agencies for 12 months.
“Today’s decision has closed one path, now we’re going to pursue another,” Mr Biden said.
Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote the dissenting opinion, claimed that it was the Court that was overstepping boundaries by allowing States to bring the case despite their inability to prove that they would be affected, even harmed.
“We do not allow plaintiffs to bring suit just because they oppose a policy,” Justice Kagan wrote.
“The result here is that the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student loan forgiveness.”
Chair of the Republican National Committee, Rona McDaniel said the student loan bailout unfairly punished Americans who had already paid off their loans, saved for university or made a different career choice.
The original Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was established under the Administration of Republican President George W. Bush in 2008. It has continued to operate for 15 years and is not affected by the Supreme Court’s decision.
Washington, 1 July 2023
