AOC suggests SCOTUS 'corruption' will result in Biden's student loan debt plan being struck down

By 
 June 6, 2023

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has predicted that the Supreme Court will likely soon strike down President Joe Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for certain eligible borrowers, the Washington Examiner reported.

Her pessimistic view is due not to accepting the likelihood that the administration lacks the authority of Congress to enact the plan, but rather that the "corruption" and partisanship of the high court's conservative majority will serve to kill the planned financial relief for some individuals.

Ocasio-Cortez not optimistic about future of Biden's student loan debt relief plan

According to the Examiner, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was asked on Sunday by a follower on Instagram if there was any "hope" that the Supreme Court would uphold and save President Biden's student loan debt relief plan from multiple legal challenges against it.

In a reply to that query, the New York congresswoman reportedly wrote, "In every convo we’ve had with the White House, they feel very strongly about the chances of their case before the court."

"While I personally do not share their same sense of optimism (not because I doubt the legal case, but because I do not believe the SCOTUS’ corruption can be trusted), the Biden admin has been insistent that they feel they have a case," she continued.

"I (and others) in turn have been very adamant on having a Plan B," Ocasio-Cortez added with regard to alternate plans in case the high court delivered a disfavorable decision. "What we should not accept is a situation where there’s no plan B and the admin just shrugs in the event of a bad ruling. Absolutely not."

Congresswoman blames completely unrelated SCOTUS "corruption"

What Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was likely referencing with her remark about "SCOTUS' corruption" is a series of concerted and coordinated reports from left-leaning media outlets, which have been seized upon by Democrats like herself, that alleged various violations of ethical standards by members of the Supreme Court's Republican-appointed majority.

Those reports have primarily gone after Justice Clarence Thomas and accused him of unethically failing to properly report certain "gifts" received from a personal friend over the years -- such as rides on a private jet and yacht or vacations at the friend's property -- that Thomas actually was not required to disclose under the governing ethical standards at the time.

Regardless, those media reports that began to be issued in April have nothing whatsoever to do with the Supreme Court's hearing of oral arguments in February of two different legal challenges to Biden's student loan debt cancellation plans.

SCOTUSblog reported at the time of the oral arguments in February that the Supreme Court's conservative-leaning majority was highly "skeptical" of the administration's claimed statutory authority -- a post-9/11 law called the HEROES Act that allowed the Department of Education during a "national emergency" to temporarily "waive or modify" the repayment requirements of service members and first responders with outstanding student loan debts.

Indeed, the Trump administration cited that same law at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 as authorization for a moratorium on repayment requirements and the accrual of interest for federal borrowers, but the Biden administration has sought to stretch that authority even further by permanently canceling anywhere from $10,000-20,000 in remaining student loan debt for certain eligible borrowers.

Final decision could come within days or weeks

The first of the two cases, Biden v. Nebraska, involves a group of Republican-led states who argued that the Biden administration has exceeded the authority of the cited law in seeking to cancel or "forgive" all or a portion of outstanding student loan debts held by tens of millions of borrowers, which is estimated to cost taxpayers, and the states, upwards of $400 billion.

The second case, known as Department of Education v. Brown, involves two individuals with student loan debts who are either only partially eligible or completely ineligible to receive the offered financial relief, and they have similarly challenged the administration's statutory authority as well as whether the administration went through the proper administrative procedures to enact the plan.

Per SCOTUSblog, a ruling on those two cases will likely be issued near the end of the Supreme Court's current term at some point in June or early July.

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