Biden asks the Supreme Court to take on another student-debt relief case

• The Biden administration asked for a pause in a Supreme Court ruling that would have blocked student-debt relief.
• Biden requested that SCOTUS hear arguments in the case next spring, even if the ruling was not halted.
• Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling meant that arguments for a separate lawsuit to block relief were heard.

President Joe Biden has once again taken student-loan forgiveness cases to the nation’s highest courts.

Friday evening, Biden’s Justice Department called on the Supreme Court to intervene as a result of a lawsuit that prevented student-loan forgiveness.

As reported for the first time by PoliticoThe department’s request to respond to a lawsuitIt was brought on by two student loan borrowers who sued Biden because they didn’t qualify for the full $20,000 in debt relief.

The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to immediately stop the lower court’s order blocking relief or to take up the case along with a separate lawsuitThe Court already agreed to take on early next year — a case brought on by six Republican-led states who argued the debt relief would hurt their states’ tax revenues.

In the legal filingThe Justice Department stated that the lower court had “profoundly erred” in stating that the Education Secretary was able to grant debt relief, even though plaintiffs in the case didn’t explicitly make that argument.

“The court erred when it considered a claim respondents never raised; respondents don’t have standing to contest the substantive lawfulness the plan; in any case, the plan is lawful; and the Court erred when it vacated the plan nationwide,” the legal file stated.

The Justice Department suggested that the Supreme Court could choose to halt Texas’s court’s ruling. However, it is very likely that the court will. act as it did on ThursdayIt will now hear oral arguments about whether student-loan forgiveness should still be allowed.

During legal proceedings, 26 million borrowers will not see any reductions in debt balances. But a bit of good news came for them last week — Biden announced he would be extending the student-loan payment pause in light of the lawsuits through June 30, or until the lawsuits are resolved, whichever comes first. 

The administration is also confident in the legal authority to enact broad debt relief as part its pandemic recovery measures. 

Miguel Cardona, Education Secretary, said that the student debt relief program would help those most at risk from default or delinquency due to the pandemic. wroteTweeted Friday, February 13, 2013.@POTUSI will continue to fight against attempts to rob middle-class families the relief they deserve and need.