Neither of the two cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday is guaranteed to settle whether the Biden administration is legally empowered to wipe out hundreds of billions of dollars in federal student loan debt, according to a YahooFinance.com commentary. The court could sidestep the question altogether if the justices decide that the parties challenging the debt relief plan lack standing, or the right to have their grievances heard. However, if the court does tackle the scope of the executive branch’s power, its decision could hinge on whether Biden’s debt relief plan, purported to alleviate financial hardships for more than 40 million American student loan borrowers, is actually tied to COVID-19. That’s because the HEROES Act — a law the administration taps as authority for forgiving student loans — empowers the U.S. Education Secretary to waive or modify laws or regulations concerning federal student loan programs for student loan recipients who “suffer direct economic hardship as a direct result of a war or other military operation or national emergency.” The law further specifies that the Secretary’s authority is meant to ensure that student loan borrowers experiencing an emergency-caused economic hardship “are not placed in a worse position financially” in relation to those loans. According to the administration, the COVID-19 pandemic is just the sort of national emergency contemplated by the HEROES Act because it directly caused economic hardship for certain student loan borrowers. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Pregolar, who argued on behalf of the administration in both cases — Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown — said during Tuesday’s hearings that student loan borrowers in forbearance for long periods, including those who took advantage of COVID-19–related repayment pauses set to expire within months, are more likely to default on payments, particularly those with annual income of less than $125,000. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned whether the pandemic is directly responsible for degrading the indebtedness of all student loan borrowers entitled to forgiveness under the relief plan.
