On Wednesday (October 19), a group of Wisconsin taxpayers requested the Supreme Court intervene by blocking the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program while it’s appealed in a lower court.
The emergency request by Brown County Taxpayers Association came after the government began accepting applications for the program and was filed to Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who handles emergency matters stemming from Wisconsin.
In its challenge, the Taxpayers Association asserts that the debt cancellation plan encroaches on Congress’s exclusive spending power, urging the court to come to the same conclusion.
In its Wednesday filing, the group writes, “The assault on our separation of powers — and upon the principle that the spending power is vested solely in Congress — is extraordinary, and perhaps unprecedented.”
The group adds, “We are witnessing a gargantuan increase in the national debt accomplished by a complete disregard for limitations on the constitutional spending authority.”
In August, President Joe Biden announced his administration would forgive as much as $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 annually. The figure would increase to $20,000 for Pell grant recipients.
The White House declared the policy was made possible because of provisions in the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act (HEROES Act) of 2003.
Yet, Wisconsin taxpayers rejected that the HEROES Act authorized the Biden administration’s debt cancellation policy in a court filing earlier this month.
Their case was first dismissed by a U.S. District judge in Wisconsin for lack of standing, then their request to have that ruling halted while an official appeal plays out, was dismissed by an intermediate appeals court, prompting the group to make the urgent request before the Supreme Court.
