Activist Supreme Court Deals Blow To Debt-Strapped College Students...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It's going as feared - the U.S. Supreme Court today continued its now-handy 6-3 vote (six Republican appointees, three Democrat appointees) in dealing a blow to college students drowning in school debt.

This from motherjones.com: [ The Supreme Court struck down on Friday the Biden administration’s plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student loans for about 40 million Americans. The plan, announced last August, would have canceled up to $10,000 in debt for low- and middle-income borrowers, and double that amount for borrowers from the poorest backgrounds. The decision to undo this relief was handed down by a coalition of the court’s six conservative justices, with the three liberal justices dissenting.

"This Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides because (so says the Court) that assistance is too ‘significan[t],'" Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent.

The decision comes at a fraught moment for student debt borrowers. Millions have been waiting on the Supreme Court to rule while their student loan payments have remained paused, thanks to a historic halt to payments and interest declared by the federal government at the start of the pandemic and extended nine times - thrice by the Trump administration, and six times by President Joe Biden. This month’s debt ceiling deal ended this pause and prevents the Biden administration from reinstating it. ]

Essentially, the high court ruled the Biden administration did not have the authority to forgive the hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt.

Interestingly, the conservatives-led court dealt today's blow to government action dating back to the administration of Republican George H.W. Bush, who authorized a pilot version of the Direct Loan program, by signing into law the 1992 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965, according to Wikipedia.

Perhaps the extreme times we live in had something to do with this activist court's most-recent ruling. The same 6 conservative justices killed "Affirmative Action" yesterday, and the abortion Roe vs. Wade law of the land that permitted abortions for women.

I keep saying it: The U.S. Supreme Court needs a "checks & balances" apparatus. No justice is an elected official, yet every one of them wields more power than most who are.

Something's gotta give...

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[Editor's Note:...Word came that President Joe Biden would address the nation later today...]