As court debates student loans, borrowers see disconnect

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Niara Thompson couldn’t shake her frustration as the Supreme Court debated President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation. As she listened from the audience Tuesday, it all felt academic. There was a long discussion on the nuances of certain words. Justices asked lawyers to explore hypothetical scenarios.

For Thompson, none of it is hypothetical. A student at the University of Georgia, she grew up watching her parents struggle with student loans and will graduate with about $50,000 of her own student debt.

“It felt like people who could never understand why we would want something like this,” she said. “I wanted to be like, ‘Y’all don’t understand. Y’all are focusing on this, but there’s people out here who are struggling to find food for their families.’”

Much of the discussion in Tuesday’s hearing centered on whether states had the legal right to sue over Biden’s student loans plan. But the justices also were scrutinizing whether Biden had the authority to waive hundreds of billions of dollars in debt without the explicit approval of Congress, which decides how taxpayer money is spent.

https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-payments-51ef087355f045260c37ae6fc698b38d

The conservatives on the Court live in their own bubble.

[judesedit]

1. If they are so worried about taxes, they can reverse Drumpf's tax cuts for billionaires.

The tax code is totally lopsided and should be totally unconstitutional.

[llmart]

3. +1

I don't remember much of an uproar when they found out that the orange criminal has had years of paying no taxes at all.

[judesedit]

5. You are so right

[lapfog_1]

2. you know what makes a conservative

graduating law school with an enormous amount of student debt that you didn't entirely pay off until you were selected to be a federal judge... and then voting to NOT give a break to millions of students who are in the same state you were in so many years ago.

AKA Justice Clarence Thomas

[gratuitous]

4. It's frustrating for sure

But the ground level question, the one that precedes all the others is "standing." Do the states have standing to sue the federal government on a policy action that doesn't require them to do or not do something? How are the states affected by writing off student loan debt for some of their citizens?

The screen for the individual plaintiffs is how does forgiving the debt of others affect these individuals? My understanding for one of the plaintiffs is that he never took out a student loan, and paid for his education as he went. Why isn't he entitled to some relief, too? I understand another plaintiff is complaining that while she can get some relief, she isn't entitled to additional relief because she didn't get a Pell Grant.

If the initial question of whether these states and individuals have standing to sue over this policy fails, then the whole magilla is moot and the Biden administration really is entitled to govern because it was elected by the people of the United States. Practically any governing decision is going to benefit or protect some people and not benefit or protect others. Is the new cap on insulin prices unfair to people without diabetes? Is Medicare discriminating against women when it covers prostate exams?

[judesedit]

6. And regarding the thieves whose PPP loans were forgiven to the tune of millions?