Biden v. Nebraska dissenting opinion in loan forgiveness

I admit I could not read the majority opinion, which struck down Biden administrations decision to forgive federal loans. It was convoluted and extremely technical. My understanding is that they repeated the "major questions doctrine" argument we discussed in prior SCOTUS threads in which the (unelected) court decides what authorities are exceeded based on tea leaves and fairy dust.

But the minority opinion is beautifully written. I had to post...

From the first page to the last, todays opinion departs from the demands of judicial restraint.The majority’s opinion begins by distorting standing doctrine to create a case fit for judicial resolution. But there is no such case here, by any ordinary measure. ... Missouri does not suffer any harm from a revenue loss to MOHELA, because the two entities are legally and financially independent. And MOHELA has chosen not to sue—which of course it could have. So no proper party is before the Court. A court acting like a court would have said as much and stopped.
The opinion ends by applying the Court's made up major questions doctrine to jettison the Secretary’s loan forgiveness plan. Small wonder the majority invokes the doctrine. The majority’s “normal” statutory interpretation cannot sustain its decision. The statute, read as written, gives the Secretary broad authority to relieve a national emergency’s effect on borrowers’ ability to repay their student
loans. The Secretary did no more than use that lawfully delegated authority. So the majority applies a rule specially crafted to kill significant regulatory action, by requiring Congress to delegate not just clearly but also microspecifically. The question, the majority maintains, is “who has the authority” to decide whether such a significant action should go forward. The right answer is the political branches: Congress in broadly authorizing loan relief, the Secretary and the President in using that authority to implement the forgiveness plan. The majority instead says that it is theirs to decide.
So in a case not a case, the majority overrides the combined judgment of the Legislative and Executive Branches, with the consequence of eliminating loan forgiveness for 43 million Americans. I respectfully dissent from that decision.

Read the whole thing here. It's good and quite disturbing for Americans from a "separation of powers" standpoint. She rightfully completely side-steps any consideration of whether or not student loans should be forgive or not. She instead focuses on the actual authority provided by Congress, which very clearly authorizes loan forgiveness. I think Kagan is right. Judiciary is overstepping itself here.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4075758-read-kagan-dissent-biden-nebraska-student-loan-case/

@wildgrass said
I admit I could not read the majority opinion, which struck down Biden administrations decision to forgive federal loans. It was convoluted and extremely technical. My understanding is that they repeated the "major questions doctrine" argument we discussed in prior SCOTUS threads in which the (unelected) court decides what authorities are exceeded based on tea leaves and fa ...[text shortened]... ://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4075758-read-kagan-dissent-biden-nebraska-student-loan-case/

to use this logic…what would stop the pres from forgiving ALL loans?

@mott-the-hoople said
to use this logic…what would stop the pres from forgiving ALL loans?

The fact that not all loans are government loans. A lot of student aid comes from the government, which has the power to forgive its own loans.

@wildgrass said
I admit I could not read the majority opinion, which struck down Biden administrations decision to forgive federal loans. It was convoluted and extremely technical. My understanding is that they repeated the "major questions doctrine" argument we discussed in prior SCOTUS threads in which the (unelected) court decides what authorities are exceeded based on tea leaves and fa ...[text shortened]... ://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4075758-read-kagan-dissent-biden-nebraska-student-loan-case/

But let me get this straight? You have friends, here and there, with various loans, some in the same straits as the poor college students, due to covid I guess? In same situation.
But you and Joe pick the college grads' loans to forgive? I don't get that , regardless of the judge lamenting with her 'eloquent' dissent. And it is clear that a president cannot just willy nilly decide something like that. Against the constitution. You libs want to do away with the constitution , of course, but you haven't yet.
And why did he not present it to the congress to decide?

@vivify said
The fact that not all loans are government loans. A lot of student aid comes from the government, which has the power to forgive its own loans.

the existence of FDIC makes your stance useless.

And yes the govt, not the pres acting unilaterally

@mott-the-hoople said
And yes the govt, not the pres acting unilaterally

So if Congress voted to forgive student loans you'd be fine with it?

@vivify said
So if Congress voted to forgive student loans you'd be fine with it?

doesn't matter if I agree with it or not…they do have the power of the purse, not the president

@averagejoe1 said
But let me get this straight? You have friends, here and there, with various loans, some in the same straits as the poor college students, due to covid I guess? In same situation.
But you and Joe pick the college grads' loans to forgive? I don't get that , regardless of the judge lamenting with her 'eloquent' dissent. And it is clear that a president cannot just ...[text shortened]... tion , of course, but you haven't yet.
And why did he not present it to the congress to decide?

Quote the bit in the Constitution that describes how forgiving debt is against the founders' wishes.

Clearly, it's you bozos that want to do away with constitutional rights.

"Present it to the Congress to decide"? I presume you mean the House. Are you daft? They can't do anything anymore except try to take Americans' rights away and bitch about each other on the floor of the House. It's the far-right agenda we know and hate.

@mott-the-hoople said
to use this logic…what would stop the pres from forgiving ALL loans?

Voters.

@averagejoe1 said
But let me get this straight? You have friends, here and there, with various loans, some in the same straits as the poor college students, due to covid I guess? In same situation.
But you and Joe pick the college grads' loans to forgive? I don't get that , regardless of the judge lamenting with her 'eloquent' dissent. And it is clear that a president cannot just ...[text shortened]... tion , of course, but you haven't yet.
And why did he not present it to the congress to decide?

Kagan laid it out in her opinion. Congress has explicitly granted the authority to do this.

@mott-the-hoople said
doesn't matter if I agree with it or not…they do have the power of the purse, not the president

Is your concern the integrity of the rule of law or the fact that Biden would be hailed as a hero if debt forgiveness occurred?

It's funny how little you care about Trump trying to overturn elections, stealing federal documents and showing them to people without clearance, his history of courts ruling that he scammed people, etc., etc., etc. Yet Biden relieving people of crushing debt is where you draw the line.

@vivify said
Is your concern the integrity of the rule of law or the fact that Biden would be hailed as a hero if debt forgiveness occurred?

It's funny how little you care about Trump trying to overturn elections, stealing federal documents and showing them to people without clearance, his history of courts ruling that he scammed people, etc., etc., etc. Yet Biden relieving people of crushing debt is where you draw the line.

Exactly.

This is not new from the Trumpazoids, though.

@vivify said
Is your concern the integrity of the rule of law or the fact that Biden would be hailed as a hero if debt forgiveness occurred?

It's funny how little you care about Trump trying to overturn elections, stealing federal documents and showing them to people without clearance, his history of courts ruling that he scammed people, etc., etc., etc. Yet Biden relieving people of crushing debt is where you draw the line.

LOL how did you jump to this?

@mott-the-hoople said
to use this logic…what would stop the pres from forgiving ALL loans?

The Secretary’s authority was bounded: He could do only what was “necessary” to alleviate the emergency’s impact on affected borrowers’ ability to repay their student loans. 20 U. S. C. §1098bb(a)(2). But within that bounded area, Congress gave discretion to the Secretary. He could “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision” applying to federal student-loan programs, including provisions relating to loan repayment and forgiveness. And in so doing, he could replace the old provisions with new “terms and conditions.” §§1098bb(a)(1),(b)(2). The Secretary, that is, could give the relief that was needed, in the form he deemed most appropriate, to counteract the effects of a national emergency on borrowers’ capacity to repay. That may have been a good idea, or it may have been a bad idea. Either way, it was what Congress said.

It ain't up to judges to decide what's "necessary" or not. Unless of course they think the HEROES act itself is unconstitutional. But they didn't say that. They just said this specific action was, and the logic they provided boiled down to "we don't like it". That's problematic from a separation of powers standpoint.

@mott-the-hoople said
doesn't matter if I agree with it or not…they do have the power of the purse, not the president

Congress did vote...

The Heroes Act gives the education secretary the authority to "waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision" regarding federal student-loan programs as he or she "deems necessary in connection with a . . . national emergency."

In this ruling, SCOTUS is deeming things that Congress authorizes as unnecessary.