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Republicans plot lawsuits against Biden’s student debt cancellation [1]

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Date: 2022-09-01

x Here’s what you need to know about how to get your student debt canceled under President Biden’s new plan. pic.twitter.com/fu5lY2kg8y — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 1, 2022

One borrower the Post interviewed is not happy about this threat from Republicans. “That would be terrible,” said Michael Loomus, 31. The Ohio call-center supervisors has $11,400 in student loans. He dropped out before obtaining his degree. “It just seems they are continuously trying to keep borrowers in debt,” Loomus added. “I don’t make a lot of money … and before this, it just felt like I’d never pay off my loans.”

It’s just the kind of thing—like the end of abortion rights—that could get certain people very motivated to vote. Like the people Ann Helen Peterson collected responses from to the new policy. People who can do things like pay off other debt, start families, save for a mortgage, help other family members, have a bit of breathing room to plan for the future.



“Because I got Pell Grants, my student loans have now halved,” one borrower said. “I have 12k left—and now there’s forgiveness after 10 years [of payments]—means it’s now likely my loans will be done in 2 years. I’m sobbing. I’ve been sobbing all morning. It means I can buy a house or a Condo. I can contribute more to my retirement. I feel like after so much hard work that I will finally be financially stable. I’m 42 and it’ll make me feel like I hit some markers of adulthood.”

“Suddenly the thought of my wife and I buying a house one day seems…possible,” another wrote. “My wife has just about 10k left on her loans. If this goes through and doesn’t end up being struck down by some wild legal challenge, this suddenly puts it in a virtually debt free position for the first time in our relationship/marriage. It’s great news, still kind of in disbelief this is happening.”

Here comes the wild legal challenge. The White House did its homework before taking this decision, and the Justice Department released a 25-page memo detailing the legal justifications for debt cancellation under a 2003 law that provides broad authority to the president to overhaul student loan programs. The law, passed after 9/11, allows the president to cancel debt in national emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic is exactly that.

Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe says that law covers Biden’s action. “The legality is very, very strong. … The language of the Heroes Act states that in a national emergency, the president can take action that includes suspending or canceling debt.”

Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, pointed out that no Republican stepped forward when Trump used the same authority to pause student loan payments at the beginning of the pandemic. “That has not been challenged in court. It has not been found improper by a court. It’s the same statute that the previous administration used and that we’ve used, that we are now using for this action,” Ramamurti said, adding “We believe we’re on strong legal ground.”

That’s unlikely to work with the Trump-packed courts, however. The right-wing law groups, Republican AGs and members of Congress—including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)—will venue shop to find the judges and the appeals courts in which they will prevail. They’ve done it on innumerable issues before (the Affordable Care Act, immigration, environmental regulations, and on and on) and prevailed. They could again on this issue with the Trump-packed U.S. Supreme Court.

A Supreme Court win on student loans, however, could be disastrous politically for Republicans. They got what they wanted from the Court on abortion, for example, and look how that’s worked out for them.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/1/2120185/-In-bid-to-become-even-more-unpopular-GOP-plots-law-suits-against-Biden-s-student-debt-cancellation

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