Less than six weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court held that President Biden lacked authority to advance his signature effort to forgive upwards of $430 billion in federal student loans, a new challenge has been filed to other major elements of his higher-education agenda.  On August 4, 2023, the Cato Institute and Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed suit in the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging that the U.S.… Continue Reading

On February 28, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court heard nearly four hours of oral argument in two separate cases challenging the Biden Administration’s authority to proceed with its plan to forgive approximately $400 billion in federal student loans.  After reviewing the background of the two cases, we look at the three key issues: the plaintiffs’ theories for why they have standing to challenge the plan, the Administration’s reliance on the HEROES Act as authority for the plan, and the applicability of the “major questions” doctrine to the Court’s analysis. … Continue Reading

On December 12, 2022, the Supreme Court announced that it would grant a petition for certiorari as to the separate loan-forgiveness challenge pending before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and calendar the matter for argument in February 2023.

On December 1, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari to consider the standing of the plaintiffs who obtained an an injunction from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that currently prevents the Biden Administration from enacting its plan to forgive approximately $400 billion in federal student loans. … Continue Reading

On December 1, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed an application by the Biden Administration to vacate an injunction entered by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that currently prevents the administration from enacting its plan to forgive approximately $400 billion in federal student loans.  Justice Kavanagh—the designated Justice for certain emergency appeals from the Eighth Circuit—referred the Administration’s application to the full Court, which, on its own initiative, converted the application to a petition for writ of certiorari before judgment and granted the petition. … Continue Reading

After reviewing the background of the current moratorium on federal student loan payments and the Biden Administration’s decision to grant loan forgiveness, we discuss two recent decisions that have paused the Administration’s ability to proceed with forgiveness.  We first analyze the Texas federal district court decision vacating the forgiveness program, including the court’s standing analysis and application of the “major questions doctrine.” … Continue Reading

Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted a request to enjoin the Biden Administration’s federal student loan forgiveness program pending resolution of an appeal filed by state attorneys general of six states (Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina), whose challenge to the loan forgiveness plan had been dismissed in October for lack of Article III standing. … Continue Reading

On November 10, 2022, a federal district court in the Northern District of Texas entered judgment in favor of two plaintiffs on an Administrative Procedure Act (APA) claim seeking vacatur of the Biden administration’s plan to forgive approximately $400 billion in federal student loans under the HEROES Act of 2003. The court, citing a rarely used provision in Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, converted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction into a motion for summary judgment over the Biden administration’s objection, and then entered a final ruling on the merits that will (along with the still-pending administrative stay entered by the Eighth Circuit) prohibit the Biden administration from moving forward with its loan forgiveness plan—at least unless and until the administration obtains a stay and/or reversal of the court’s judgment in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which it has already sought.… Continue Reading

On the evening of Friday, October 21, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit put a halt—albeit a potentially temporary one—to the Biden Administration’s federal student loan forgiveness program, which had been scheduled to result in loan cancellation for at least some student borrowers only two days later, on October 23.… Continue Reading

We discuss the Biden Administration’s recent change in tone on forgiveness, alternative approaches to full forgiveness the President might take, potential legal sources of the President’s authority to take such actions, including the status of the Education Dept.’s analysis of the President’s forgiveness authority, and likely timetable for Presidential action.  We also look at the Administration’s recent initiatives involving income driven repayment plans and public service student loan forgiveness and explore the perspective of interests opposed to forgiveness.… Continue Reading

On April 19, one day before the release of a highly critical performance audit by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Department of Education (ED) announced a series of actions it is taking to “address[] historical failures in the administration of the federal student loan programs.”  The actions are directed at income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which are used by student borrowers on over half of the more than $1 trillion in outstanding federal student Direct Loans. … Continue Reading