A Louisiana attorney filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s student loan debt forgiveness plan, representing yet another legal challenge against the program.
Attorney Tommy Badeaux filed (
pdf) the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans and accused the White House of infringing on the Constitution’s separation of powers clause by forgiving billions of dollars in debt without any action from Congress. He was joined by the Pelican Center for Justice and the Pelican Institute for Public Policy,
according to the groups.
”You can’t carte blanche cancel half a trillion dollars of debts owed to the taxpayers without consulting them,” Daniel Erspamer, CEO of the Pelican Institute, in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “That’s bad policy. And in this instance, it’s also illegal and unconstitutional. Congress and the people they represent should’ve been involved in a decision that will affect millions of Americans and do nothing to lower the cost of getting an education.”
President Joe Biden’s proposal would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loans for those making less than $125,000 a year for individuals or $250,000 for married couples or heads of households, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients who meet the income threshold. The White House could reportedly start processing requests for loan forgiveness as soon as this weekend.
The suit said that before Biden’s order, there was no public comment period, which they argue is required after any regulatory action that gets added to the Federal Register under federal law.
“The Administration used a law that was meant to protect service members as a means to usurp the entire legislative and administrative process,” said James Baehr, Special Counsel at the Pelican Institute. “Congress is where this debate should’ve occurred. But, under pressure from progressive activists, the Biden Administration hijacked a good law to produce a terrible policy in a brazen act of executive overreach.”
Other Lawsuits
A group of Wisconsin taxpayers last week filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to put an end to the loan forgiveness plan. The emergency request was filed with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who handles emergencies from Wisconsin and has the option to act on her own or refer the petition to the nine-justice court, but Barett later rejected their request.Several related lawsuits have been filed against the Biden administration. The six Republican-led states of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina filed a
suit in September to block the program, arguing that Biden doesn’t have the power to issue debt relief without an act of Congress.
Also, the Libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation
sued the U.S. Education Department in a federal court in Indiana in September. A judge denied the request to pause the federal program.
The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
