U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The fate of the Biden administration’s sweeping plan to cancel $400 billion in student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans may hinge on the newest conservative member of the Supreme Court: Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Barrett was the conservative justice who seemed the most unconvinced by the plaintiffs challenging student loan forgiveness, said Jed Shugerman, a law professor at Fordham University. Specifically, Shugerman said, Barrett didn’t seem to agree that they’d proven they have standing to sue.
“Barrett was vocally and deeply uncomfortable about ruling that any of the plaintiffs had standing,” Shugerman said.
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As a rule, plaintiffs must prove that a policy would cause them injury in order to challenge it in the courts.
That requirement, which has long been defended by conservative justices, especially former Justice Antonin Scalia, is meant to avoid people using the legal system to fight policies they do not like or agree with.
The six GOP-led states that brought a lawsuit against the Biden plan argue that the debt cancellation for up to $20,000 per borrower would decrease profits for companies in their states that service federal student loans. That argument has become focused on the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, or MOHELA.
Nebraska’s solicitor general, James Campbell, who argued on behalf of the states in front of the justices on Feb. 28, said Biden’s plan threatened to eat away at MOHELA’s operating revenue by as much as 40%.
Barrett seemingly unsatisfied by plaintiff arguments
But Barrett asked Campbell why MOHELA itself was not suing to block the plan instead of Missouri.
Officials at MOHELA recently said it had no involvement in Missouri Attorney General Eric…
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