The three liberal justices of the Supreme Court appeared to deploy a fresh strategy Tuesday as they launched a disciplined and sustained effort to attack arguments put forward by challengers to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.
The question is whether the one-two-three punch from the liberals’ attracted conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett and at least one more conservative justice.
First up was Justice Elena Kagan, who tackled whether the debt relief program passes legal muster. Justic Ketanji Brown Jackson focused many of her questions on a critical procedural issue that could derail the challenge. While Justice Sonia Sotomayor batted cleanup, reminding her colleagues of the consequences at stake if the program that offers relief for millions of student loan borrowers is ultimately invalidated.
The arguments, and a possible new approach, come as the left side of the bench has suffered serious losses last term in cases that broke along familiar ideological lines. It appeared the liberals had decided to follow a “divide and conquer” game plan – sometimes assigning themselves particular aspects of the dispute to try to sway their colleagues in what could be an uphill battle. It could also highlight how the liberals will move forward in other ideologically divided disputes in the near and long term.
But the looming question after some 3 and a half hours of arguments is whether the liberals are able to pick off not only one, but two votes to obtain a majority. Barrett seemed at times to attach herself to some of the arguments the liberals were making, but oral arguments can be notoriously misleading. Biden’s chances seemed slim.
Early and often, Kagan poked at Nebraska Solicitor General James Campbell who was representing the six red states challenging the plan. Central to his argument is that a plan of such political…
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