This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked Joe Biden's scheme to stick taxpayers with the tab for some $400 billion in student loans.
Biden has wanted to "cancel" student loan debt amounts of $10,000 or $20,000, depending on circumstances, and have taxpayers pay up.
But the Supreme Court, on a 6-3 ruling, said no.
Fox Business said the justices found the law does not allow the secretary of education to follow through on Biden's plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt.
"The secretary’s plan canceled roughly $430 billion of federal student loan balances, completely erasing the debts of 20 million borrowers and lowering the median amount owed by the other 23 million from $29,400 to $13,600," Chief Justice John Roberts said. "Six states sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancellation plan. We agree."
The Biden strategy had been to inordinately benefit those who took out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. He would have provided up to $10,000 in debt relief – and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients – for people who make less than $125,000 a year.
But that cost would then have fallen on taxpayers, many of whom already had paid off their own loans, or didn't take out such loans.
Critics argued he lacked the authority to simply transfer indebtedness from borrowers to non-borrowers.
Republicans in Congress already have proposed a series of moves that would address the problem of high student indebtedness.
The Washington Examiner explained a nearly three-year moratorium on payments, triggered by the pandemic from the Chinese COVID-19, is set to expire this fall.
The Examiner noted the decision was a "stark setback" for Biden.
The majority ruling found the statutory grant and authority to the secretary of education to "waive or modify" loan terms cannot be extended to the point of such debt transfers.
It also found such moves would require clear congressional authorization, which Biden has not been able to get.
"The secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not,” Roberts wrote.
Studies revealed many of the large cancellations would have benefited the wealthy, including students finishing law school and headed toward lucrative careers in that industry.
The Examiner explained, "In the first case challenging the loan plan, Nebraska along with five other states that sued argued the 20 million borrowers who would have their entire loans erased would get a 'windfall' leaving them better off than before the pandemic. The state challenge was successful in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which put the plan on hold last October."
A second case was not addressed for lack of standing.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., an ardent Biden supporter, indicated the Supreme Court ruling would mean little to Democrats.
"The Biden administration has remaining legal routes to provide broad-based student debt cancellation. With the pause on student loan payments set to expire in weeks, I call upon the administration to do everything in its power to deliver for millions of working- and middle-class Americans struggling with student loan debt."
But Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said it affirmed the divided power of the Constitution.
"Today’s Supreme Court ruling confirmed what we have known all along: the Biden administration’s student loan plan is an overreach of executive power. This is an obvious but welcomed ruling. President Biden’s student loan scheme does not ‘forgive’ debt, but unfairly transfers the burden from those who willingly took out loans onto those who chose not to attend college or already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans."
