why student debt won’t be cancelled

PERSONAL OPINION: As an attorney I believe that student debt will not be cancelled or modified. This is not intended to be a political post and I express no opinion as to whether or not student debt forgiveness is a good or bad thing. After reviewing the case this is just my prediction. On February 28, the Supreme Court will hear Biden v. Nebraska, a challenge to Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Biden’s initiative offers up to $20,000 of debt relief to millions of qualified borrowers, but it has been blocked by the lower courts. Why do I think it will fail? For multiple reasons. 1) The statutory basis is ambiguous at best. The department of education wants to use the HEROES act to justify cancelling student debt in a time of “national emergency.” It is argued that COVID-19 is a national emergency, so the debt forgiveness would be rationalized in connection with COVID-19. The Secretary invoked its authority under the HEROES Act to create a loan-forgiveness program that would address the financial harms of the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that COVID-19 was declared a national emergency by President Trump in 2020 and thus a “national emergency” under the HEROES Act. According to the Secretary, every portion of the country is a “disaster area due to COVID-19,” and “every person with a federal student loan under title IV of the HEA” is an affected individual. Personally, that seems like a stretch. 2) Recent Supreme Court decisions have signaled that justices are fed up with agencies having too much power. Traditionally when agencies acted, courts used the “Chevron” doctrine to defer to the agency’s judgment. For example, as a circuit judge Amy Barrett routinely deferred to ICE’s judgment when it came to deportations and unflinchingly utilized the “Chevron Doctrine” to justify ICE decisions. Chevron gives agencies very broad discretion to interpret statutes. I doubt we will see her express the same loyalty to the Chevron doctrine here. In recent decisions courts have backpedaled on the Chevron doctrine, indicating that they will no longer roll over for agencies. Although I’d love to see my law school loans reduced, I don’t think it will happen ☹️