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The Supreme Court struck down a plan that would have forgiven student debt for millions of Americans in a decision released Friday.
With a vote of 6-3, the court deemed President Joe Biden’s loan forgiveness plan illegal. Federal law does not allow the Department of Education the authority to forgive student debt, the court said.
“The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a concurring opinion.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, loan interest will resume in September and payments will be due starting in October. Both have been paused since March 13, 2020.
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The program, which was announced in August of last year, was a three-part effort to relieve working and middle-class families of their student loans. It was estimated to cost more than $400 billion and would have allowed eligible borrowers to cancel up to $20,000 in debt.
However, a law passed in early June to prevent the United States from reaching its debt ceiling prevented the pause on interest and payment from being extended again.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the dissenting opinion that by deciding this case, the Court “exercises authority it does not have.”
“It blows through a constitutional guardrail intended to keep courts acting like courts,” wrote Kagan in the dissenting opinion.
