Posted January 11, 20233:00 pm
Broad Coalition Defend Cancellation of Student Debt Before the U.S. Supreme Court
Amici Curiae to Nation’s Highest Court: Student Debt Relief is Lawful and Urgently Needed to Address the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic
This morning, an historic coalition of cities, states, experts, and advocates filed more than a dozen amicus curiae briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Biden Administration’s student debt relief program.
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland filed the brief on behalf of more than 70 legal services and borrower advocacy organizations and Legal Aid was among more than twelve amicus briefs in support of the cancellation policy.
The City of Cleveland is also one of the signatories on the City Amicus brief also filed today.
The briefs represent the breadth of communities that stand to benefit from student debt relief, including borrowers of color, veterans, older people, people of faith, along with dozens of working people in cities and states across the country. Leaders and public officials join law scholars, economists, sociologists, higher education and public policy experts from across the political and ideological spectrum as amici. Together, these briefs showcase the broad support, strong legal foundation, and urgent economic necessity underpinning President Biden’s effort to cancel student debt for 40 million Americans.
Since President Biden first announced his intention to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for the vast majority of borrowers, opponents of student debt relief have filed legal challenges seeking to halt this effort. In December, the Supreme Court agreed to hear two of these challenges– Nebraska v. Biden (recaptioned Biden v. Nebraska at the Supreme Court), brought by Republican officials in Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Iowa, and Brown v. Biden (recaptioned Biden v. Brown at the Supreme Court), a challenge brought by student loan borrowers in Texas and funded by a right-wing dark-money group. This week’s briefs support the Justice Department’s effort to defend this policy before the nation’s highest court.
To date, more than 26 million Americans have applied for student debt relief and more than 40 million Americans are expected to benefit when this program is fully implemented.
See full brief here:
Background and Timeline
In a matter of weeks following President Biden’s historic student debt cancellation announcement, 26 million borrowers submitted applications– further evidence of the crushing burden this debt has had on workers and families from all walks of life. According to the Department of Education, 16 million borrowers have already been approved for relief. As a result of these overtly political lawsuits, tens of millions of borrowers are now left in economic limbo.
No student loan borrower with a federally-held loan has been required to make a student loan payment since March 2020 when former President Donald Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, pausing student loan payments and suspending interest charges for federal borrowers. This set of protections was extended via executive actions in August 2020, December 2020, January 2021, August 2021, December 2021, April 2022, and August 2022.
On November 15, 2022, a panel of judges in State of Nebraska v Biden granted the motion by six Republican-led states to block President Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for tens of millions of federal student loan borrowers. These states sought a preliminary injunction, arguing that debt cancellation must be stopped because the profits of lenders and servicers, like student loan giant Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), were more important than—and threatened by—the Administration’s efforts to ensure the financial well-being of millions of Americans saddled with student loan debt in the time of a national emergency. The Administration has argued that this cancellation of debt is critical to ensure that student loan borrowers are not harmed as it ends the payment pause.
On October 12, 2022, a federal judge heard oral arguments to consider whether to grant MOHELA’s motion to block student debt relief for tens of millions of people. That judge denied the motion and dismissed the case. The plaintiffs appealed to the 8th circuit and motioned for an emergency injunction pending the appeal. That injunction was granted on November 14, 2022.
On November 10, 2022, a federal judge issued an order to halt President Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for tens of millions of federal student loan borrowers. The judge, in this case, Trump-appointee Mark T. Pittman of Texas, sided with opponents of the President’s student debt relief plan in a lawsuit backed by conservative dark money group known as the Job Creators Network.
On November 22, President Biden again extended this pause on student loan payments and tied this extension directly to the outcome of these lawsuits. This time, the President extended the payment pause until June 30, 2023, or 60 days after the final disposition of the lawsuits.
Last week, the Department of Justice filed its opening brief in Nebraska and Brown, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate these national injunctions and free the administration to deliver student debt relief.