A taxpayers group that unsuccessfully sought to block President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case.
The Brown County Taxpayers Association asked the court to consider putting on hold the program that would pay up to $20,000 of student loans for some.
The suit was originally filed in Wisconsin, but was thrown out by a federal judge there and then rejected by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. An emergency motion for an injunction to stop the program was dismissed by U.S. District Judge William C. Griesbach.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Wednesday filed the suit on behalf of the taxpayers group.
The Biden administration enacted the program that forgives $10,000 of federally funded student loan debt, $20,000 in Pell Grant loans, under the HEROES Act.
The HEROES Act gave the executive branch authority to forgive student loan debt in association with military operations or national emergencies following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The tax group’s suit claims that Biden does not have the authority to dismiss the debts. Several other groups have filed similar lawsuits, including a group of states looking to stop the program.
“The federal government is engaged in a so-far hidden, ever-changing and increasingly crumbling escapade of lawlessness,” said James A. Campbell of the Nebraska attorney general’s office, who represented the states in court last week.
“Everything we’ve learned so far shows that the department is making this up as they go. They are acting without agency authority. And they are flouting the HEROES Act, which doesn’t give them the broad authority they claim.”
Justice Department attorneys said in a recent court filing that the policy “fits comfortably within the [Education] Secretary’s HEROES Act authority” based on “thorough economic analysis and targeted in response to the COVID-19 national emergency.”
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