On SCOTUS and Biden’s student loan forgiveness proposal
It seems to be going poorly in its challenge in SCOTUS:
Joe Biden’s plan to forgive student loans is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court and most people are expecting the initiative to be shot down as unconstitutional.
The left has wanted this policy for a long time and they are already forming a completely predicatable narrative about its failure. It’s the fault of all those evil Republicans.
However, it occurs to me that may be a bit off. Perhaps Biden and company never wanted it to become actual policy. Imagine the economic effects if that happened, imagine the cost! It might come back to bite them in some way when reality intruded. Plus, they knew from the outset that the Supreme Court is majority-conservative, and that someone would likely start a case against the program that would end up going to SCOTUS.
So they probably knew that the loan forgiveness program, with all its attendant costs, didn’t have much of a chance to come to fruition in the real world. Much much better if it failed at the hands of conservatives. That way, the left gets to say, “We tried and tried to help you, but those loathsome, cruel, greedy conservatives wouldn’t let us.”
The constitution matters. Too bad that the GOP is so pathetic in defending it against those who routinely violate it.
biden just gave the Teamsters 35 billion to replace the amounts stolen by the Mafia/Democrats.
Chokepoint 2.0 is all about crushing legal businesses that Fauxcohontas and company hate.
The censorship cabal is a direct assault on the constitution.
Big Brother is real and here. Maybe we can find someone to tell the American people.
I wonder how much effect the student loan forgiveness had on the 2022 midterms.
My bet is that it was a good bet for Democrats.
Legal Insurrection has a roundup of the usual leftist suspects (Vox, CNN, etc.) warming up in the bullpen on the loan forgiveness issue:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/03/leftists-ready-to-blame-republicans-when-scotus-strikes-down-bidens-unconstitutional-student-loan-forgiveness/
Beating the evil, racist, …ist, “conservative” Supreme Court for throwing out a scheme that they know is unconstitutional and unaffordable? Shocked. Shocked to the depths of my soul. But actually as a conservative, I have no soul. (sarc x ∞)
Very interesting analysis. A win-win scenario.
Yes, it seems fairly likely that this was all Kabuki theater. The Democrats have ever been the party of big, unrealistic promises like student loan forgiveness. This includes broad and somewhat vaguely defined ideas like the Green New Deal and racial reparations that would almost certainly wreak massive economic and social destruction if they were actually implemented in any meaningful way. It’s all about drumming up support from a voter base made up of people with poor critical thinking skills who are easily emotionally appealed to. Many of the politicians themselves are likely fully aware how unrealistic these ideas are, and many may not be or just don’t really care one way or the other just as long as they achieve power.
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Yes, this thing is going down.
Roberts did make a bizarre comparison to the Trump administration’s recission of Obama’s DACA executive order though. The two couldn’t be any more different!
DACA – an illegal EO (blocked since 2021 on the merits) that the Trump administration tried to revoke but was stopped on (probably pretty loose) APA grounds.
Loan forgiveness – an illegal EO
Be prepared to be disappointed when the Court says that no one has standing to sue.
The state of Missouri claims standing based on the direct impact of the loan giveaway order on MOHELA, Missouri’s Higher Education Loan Authority, and the resulting secondary impact on the state itself. MOHELA is a separately incorporated state entity. Why wasn’t it asserting the claim on its own behalf? That was a difficult question for Campbell to answer. In my view the standing argument advanced on behalf of Missouri is tenuous (and Missouri’s standing argument is the strongest in the case).
Sure, lets chase the fickel 18-24 y.o.’s and piss off EVERYONE who either paid their own way or paid off their loans already. It’s like Hollywood chasing the .4% markets.
I’m hopeful, but the “standing” issue is always a worry.
Perhaps Biden and company never wanted it to become actual policy. Imagine the economic effects if that happened, imagine the cost!
I really hope Neo is correct. But the minute I heard Obama was taking over the student lending business, I knew the goal would be to forgive that debt.
It’s too perfect. The heart and soul of the cultural Marxism transformation of that Great Satan, the American Society, are the universities with their overpaid tenured professors and their curricula. Have the fed. gov. give out large sums to students getting degrees in queer and transgender studies. Those monies end up in the pockets of profs. and administrators.
It might be somewhat self-correcting if the debts were honored and these graduates couldn’t easily pay it back. The obvious fix is, don’t pay it back. Stick it to the taxpayer instead. Consider the delicious irony of having love-it-or-leave-it patriots paying for this academic drivel.
As for wrecking the federal budget and possibly the economy, I have to assume that is an objective at this point. Send the American Empire the way of the British Empire.
I worked in an appellate court for many years and saw many otherwise worthy cases dismissed on standing grounds. There are actually legitimate jurisprudential reasons for the standing rule, but it’s frustrating nonetheless. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen here. I guess the hope is that the conservative majority won’t want to let an unconstitutional rule stand and will find a way to work past the standing issue.
The EO itself was one of the most blatant vote-buying schemes I’ve ever seen. Biden didn’t even pretend to be trying to solve the real problem. If he had, he’d have done something about the future, changing the situation so that students wouldn’t continue to sign up for student loans they won’t be able to pay (although the huge majority do pay them, from what I understand.) And the amount is basically paltry. The students who can’t pay owe a lot more than $10,000. That amount won’t do much to help the people who need help, and it’ll just be a nice little bonus for the employed majority who will still have to pay the bulk of their loans, and can afford to do so. It was just a give-away to buy votes in the midterms. And I don’t think he expected it to survive.
(Sorry, I clicked something wrong and posted my comment twice! Luckily the edit function gave me a chance to get rid of the extra.)
Keep in mind that the university system is about to be sucked over the waterfalls of declining demographics, declining value of degrees, college costs outpacing inflation, inflation rising inexorably, diminished credibility, parents and students fearful of debt. increasing corporate openness to non-degreed employees, and hard left campus authoritarianism.
All of this is worsened by the amazing educational resources provided by powerful personal computers and the internet, if one seeks knowledge as opposed to an embossed piece of paper.
I suspect even Democrats and academics have some bare glimmering of the cataclysm ahead.
Which they have richly earned.
My sojourn of late within the hallowed halls impressed me that a university education is a truly, truly terrible way to actually, you know, learn something.
I thought that was my inner hippie talking. But no, it’s really bad. Assuming one wants to learn, as opposed to demonstrating the skill and stamina to run an obstacle course, the standard university education is buggy whip technology.
Emphasis on the whips.
” This includes broad and somewhat vaguely defined ideas like the Green New Deal and racial reparations that would almost certainly wreak massive economic and social destruction if they were actually implemented in any meaningful way.”
Which I think is enough indication that they actually do want those things to be implemented, as social and economic destruction is the end goal of the far left.
It always has been, as the prescribed path in communist thinking towards the “global uprising of the proletariat”.
huxley @10:15pm,
I agree there is more wrong than right. Having watched (and funded) my children I could see much had changed for the worse in the 30 years since I did my education. So much more is pointless and/or of little value. My wife’s profession now requires a PhD for something she was well trained for with an Undergrad. Many states require a Masters to sit for the CPA exam. There are a lot of foolish majors and classes, and even classes that have merit are often not very rigorous. Grade inflation, less homework, excuses are allowed, extensions are perpetually extended, lots of remedial classes to sucker in kids who will never matriculate… My kids would laugh that telling a teacher one has any type of “mental health” episode or issue guarantees concessions from teachers. It’s a ploy many students utilize.
We are starting to see some disruption. Let’s hope the whole thing gets sorted out and improved soon; for the students’ sake and all of our benefit.
Agree that this was the plan all along – even Pelosi stated it was unconstitutional. I too am troubled by the standing issue, but it simply cannot be that the executive branch can take actions that completely undermine the Constitution and that no one would have standing to sue.
Also agree that $10K does nothing to alleviate most debt, the vast majority of which approaches (and often exceeds) the $100K mark. Most will just use the money to take vacations or other discretionary spending. No effort to fix the problem, just pretend to throw money at it to win votes
@ Rufus > “We are starting to see some disruption. Let’s hope the whole thing gets sorted out and improved soon; for the students’ sake and all of our benefit.”
This is a good start.
https://www.city-journal.org/university-of-austin-college-of-the-future
Author Jacob Howland is director of the Intellectual Foundations Program at the University of Austin.
RTWT for a description of how UATX is organized, its mandate for freedom of inquiry and debate, and its curriculum priorities.
Letting unconstitutional acts occur for lack of standing (no one allowed to bring the controversy to judgement) is such a bad legal fiction. Just like Judge, Prosecutorial and Qualified immunity (esp. QI when not exigent, like after consultation with lawyers).