The Supreme Court occasionally surprises us, but in this case, they did exactly what court watchers predicted. In a 6 to 3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Biden’s student relief plan was unconstitutional.
The decision is a massive loss for the millions of people holding federal student loan debt who were hoping for relief. The plan would have eliminated up to $20,000 in student debt for borrowers making under $125,000 or $250,000 in household income.
As expected, the ruling fell along the court’s ideological divide. Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson voted to uphold student debt relief. And the conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Comey Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas, voted against it.
As we mentioned, none of this came as a huge shock. Following oral arguments earlier this year, legal experts warned The Root that things did not look great for Biden’s student debt plan. At the time, Roberts suggested that this was an issue better left up to Congress, an argument the court maintained in their opinion.
In the liberal justices dissent they argued that the decision was a massive overreached of the court. “In every respect, the Court exceeds its proper, limited role in our Nation’s governance,” wrote Kagan, noting as many legal experts have that Congress passed the HEROS ACT, which explicitly gave the President powers over federal student loans.
It’s important to note that this isn’t just a political blow to Biden; it’s also an economic hit to borrowers who’d hoped to see some relief after toiling in debt for years. Black Americans will be especially impacted by this decision.
According to the Student Borrower Protection Center, roughly 90 percent of Black students take on student loan debt, compared to 66 percent of white students. On average, Black graduates actually owe six percent more on their student loans than when they borrowed the money due to interest, according to the Department of Education. And, white borrowers owe, on average, 10 percent less than what they borrowed. Thanks to a consistent gender wage gap, things are even worse for Black women. On average Black women hold $38,000 in federal student loan debt, according to Education Trust.
The decision leaves open the possibility for Congress to help borrowers. However, it’s undeniably a blow to those suffering under mountains of debt.