‘The Forgiveness Program is DONE’: CNN Legal Analyst Lays Out How SCOTUS Utterly Nuked Biden Student Loan Plan

The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan in its ruling on Biden v. Nebraska in a 6-3 decision that provoked furious reactions on Friday.

CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig put it bluntly: “This student loan forgiveness program is done. It’s over.”

Speaking with John Berman, Sara Sidner, and Kate Bolduan, Honig continued to lay out in stark terms how thoroughly Biden’s effort to bypass Congress was nuked by the conservatives on the court.

“We’ve been talking in the wedding case, yesterday in the affirmative action case, there’s a lot of gray area, interesting hypotheticals. What next –” he said. “There is no ‘what next’ with this. There’s no hypotheticals.”

Sidner offered a similarly direct summary in reply.

“You have to repay your student loan. You are not going to have it forgiven,” she said.

“Right. The forgiveness program is done,” Honig confirmed.

After more discussion, Sidner and Honig wrapped up the point one more time.

“So the wheels are coming off for people who thought that maybe they’d have a break here,” said Sidner.

“Exactly,” agreed Honig.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about this. This is was this really a case about the power of the presidency and what the president was allowed to do in the executive office versus Congress and everyone else checks and balances, this issue?

HONIG: Yes, this is about executive power. It’s not supposed to be a decision about ‘do we like this policy? Is it good? Is it fair?’ Now, a couple of things. This student loan forgiveness program is done. It’s over. There’s no black and white. We’ve been talking in the wedding case yesterday in the affirmative action case, there’s a lot of gray area, interesting hypotheticals. What next? There is no what next with this? There’s no hypotheticals.

SIDNER: You have to repay your student loan. You were not going to have it forgiven.

HONIG: Right. The forgiveness program is done. Important to note, this is another 6 to 3 decision. The six conservatives, Chief Justice Roberts, along with Justices Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett in the majority, striking it down. And in the dissent again, the three liberal justices, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson. So we’re seeing that yet again.

BERMAN: I want to read you some of this. Yes.

BOLDUAN: I have a better quote.

BERMAN: Okay. Go.

SIDNER: Here we go.

BOLDUAN: I just – the fuller quote, if you will, John. ‘The Secretary asserts that the Heroes Act grants and the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not. We hold today that the act allows the secretary to waive or modify existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to a financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite the statute from the ground up.’

HONIG: That’s the key quote. So the Biden administration did not just say, we’re going to invent this out of thin air. We’re just going to cancel debt. They pointed to this law, this Heroes act from 2003, which is somewhat broad. It basically was passed after 9/11. And it says that in times of national emergency, the executive branch, we Congress give you the executive branch, the power to modify or waive certain student loans. And the question was, is that too broad? Or do you need a separate law saying, okay, because of COVID, now you can relieve student loans? And what the court says here is that law was meant for minor modifications. There’s a quote, and here.

BOLDUAN: Is the dollar amount. Part of the problem here?

HONIG: It’s relevant?

BERMAN: There is a subjective quality to this, which is the extent that’s the issue is not the power. It’s the extent.

HONIG: Exactly. Because the legal term for this is the Major Questions doctrine. If this is a big deal, if this is a major question, then you need a specific law from Congress saying, ‘Hey, executive branch, you can do exactly this.’ And that’s the point that the majority.

BOLDUAN: A big deal then, right?

BERMAN: Then. And they say when we’ve used this in the past, it’s been for very minor modifications trying to protect veterans. This is a sweeping $400 billion program that goes beyond what the executive can…

SIDNER: So 43 million students who are still paying those off, which can be the very young who have just gotten out of school or those who, you know, doctors, lawyers, who have these huge loans, they will have to start paying them back. And the COVID restrictions are also coming off as well. So the wheels are coming off for people who thought that maybe they’d have a break here.

BERMAN: Exactly.

Watch the clip above via CNN.