President Joe Biden speaks during a Fourth of July celebration for military families on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2022.
Evan Vucci/AP
A Wisconsin conservative group is asking SCOTUS to block Biden’s student-debt relief.
This comes after a federal judge already struck down the case, saying the group does not have standing.
The group argued that the loan forgiveness has an “improper racial motive” and is unconstitutional.
A Wisconsin conservative group wants President Joe Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan blocked as soon as possible — and it’s taking matters to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) — a conservative law firm — filed an emergency application for writ of injunction asking the Supreme Court to “temporarily pause” Biden’s student-debt relief plan before Sunday, when the group expects Biden’s administration to start officially canceling borrowers’ debt, according to the press release. On October 4, WILL filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Brown County Taxpayers Association who argued that debt relief has an “improper racial motive” and violates constitutional rights, but just two days later, a federal judge struck the case down.
Rather than appealing the judge’s decision, the group is escalating the matter to the Supreme Court and it now appears on the Court’s docket.
“It is critical that the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on the President’s unconstitutional student loan relief plan before Sunday, when the loan forgiveness could start,” WILL President and General Counsel Rick Esenberg said in a statement. “WILL is proud to represent American taxpayers, and to bring the first claim to be submitted to SCOTUS.”
The Sunday deadline refers to a previous court filing from Biden’s administration that noted no student debt would be canceled before October 23. The group is asking SCOTUS to respond to two questions surrounding the legality of loan forgiveness: whether a taxpayer can sue in federal court to prevent the overreach of Constitutional spending power, and whether the HEROES Act permits broad debt relief for millions of Americans.
The HEROES Act has been widely debated even before Biden announced debt relief. While his administration said it gives the Education Secretary the authority to modify or waive student loan balances in connection with a national emergency, like COVID-19, many conservatives have claimed Biden’s policy is an overreach of that authority.
At least six major conservative groups have filed lawsuits seeking to halt Biden’s student-debt relief, and while federal judges have struck down at least two of them so far, borrowers are still awaiting a decision from a federal judge who heard arguments last week from six Republican-led states who sought to block the loan forgiveness, arguing the relief would hurt their states’ tax revenues, among other things.
WILL’s SCOTUS filing also comes just days after Biden officially launched the student-loan forgiveness application. During Monday remarks, Biden noted that 8 million borrowers had already applied for relief through the simple form that takes just minutes to fill out, only requiring basic information like a borrower’s email address and Social Security number.
It’s unclear at this point when, or if, SCOTUS will provide responses to the group’s questions. For now, the administration is moving forwarding with the debt relief application process and recommends that borrowers submit their forms before mid-November to ensure the debt cancellation will be processed before payments resume in January.