Group Asks Supreme Court to Block Student Loan Relief

Emergency filing says Biden program usurps congressional spending authority
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 19, 2022 6:55 PM CDT
Group Asks Supreme Court to Block Student Loan Relief
Activists hold signs during a news conference Sept. 29 on student debt cancellation on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

No sooner had the Education Department launched its site to accept applications for student debt cancellation than the Supreme Court received an emergency request to block the whole program. A group of Wisconsin taxpayers took its request Wednesday to Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who handles emergency filings involving the 7th Circuit US Court of Appeals. That's where the Brown County Taxpayers Association's case challenging President Biden's program is now, CBS News reports. It's one of several court actions trying to stop the program from taking effect. More than 8 million people applied for loan relief last weekend, per CNBC.

The Wisconsin group's filing maintains Biden's plan infringes on spending power reserved for Congress, per the Hill. "The assault on our separation of powers—and upon the principle that the spending power is vested solely in Congress—is extraordinary, and perhaps unprecedented," the request says. "We are witnessing a gargantuan increase in the national debt accomplished by a complete disregard for limitations on the constitutional spending authority." The administration says the program is authorized under a 2003 law, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act. Biden has used the law to launch policies granting student loan relief during the pandemic, as did the administration of former President Donald Trump. (More student loans stories.)

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