in February. The challenges center on whether the Biden administration has sufficient legal authority to establish the program under the HEROES Act of 2003, a federal statute that authorizes the Education Department to “modify” of “waive” normal rules governing the federal student loan system in response to a national emergency, such as a pandemic.
A ruling could come at any time. But court observers expect a decision to be issued sometime in June, which is when the Supreme Court typically releases major rulings of national importance.
The legal issue in dispute here is noteworthy because advocates for student loan borrowers have pointed to this provision of the Higher Education Actfor Biden’s separate one-time student loan forgiveness plan. If the Supreme Court strikes down that initiative and rules that the HEROES Act does not authorize such sweeping relief, advocates have suggested that the Biden administration could simply reissue the program under the Higher Education Act’s compromise authority.
Biden administration officials have publicly stated that no backup option for the student loan forgiveness plan is currently under consideration. And there might be problems relying on the Higher Education Act’s compromise authority, both legally and administratively, as the Education Department may have to go through a lengthy rulemaking process to re-establish the program.was not a ruling on the merits of the Higher Education Act’s compromise authority.