The Supreme Court of the United States examines, Tuesday, February 28, a flagship measure that the American president announced last summer: the cancellation of part of the debts of millions of students.

The economic stakes are colossal and many Republican states oppose it.

"This assistance is crucial for more than 40 million Americans recovering from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic", tweeted Joe Biden just before the hearing, displaying his "confidence in the legality" of his plan.

Today, my Administration argues our case for student debt relief in the Supreme Court.



This relief is critical to over 40 million Americans as they recover from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.



We're confident it's legal.



And we're fighting for it in court.

— President Biden (@POTUS) February 28, 2023

“Relieving borrowers is legal” or “Crush student debt”, also proclaimed signs held up by nearly 200 demonstrators gathered in the early morning in front of the highest American court.

Among them, Lamar Brooks, a psychiatry student, explained to AFP that he had already accumulated $18,000 in debt.

Eligible for the Biden plan, this 22-year-old African-American believes that it "could help other minorities and relieve the burden" inherited from the past.

400 billion dollars

The wise nine have begun to listen to representatives of Joe Biden's government and critics of this program who denounce a costly abuse of power.

Judges have to juggle crazy sums: nearly 43 million Americans have federal student loans to repay for a total amount of 1,630 billion dollars.

At the start of the pandemic, as the economy went into hibernation, the administration of Republican President Donald Trump suspended the repayment of these credits under a 2003 law allowing "relief" for holders of student debt in the event of "national emergency".

This measure has so far been renewed without interruption.

At the end of August, President Biden wanted to go further by announcing that he would erase $10,000 from the slate of borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year, and $20,000 for former scholarship recipients.

The candidates rushed and 26 million applications were filed, according to the White House, which estimates the overall bill for the state at 400 billion dollars.

The blocked Biden plan

Justice, however, blocked the implementation of this plan after being seized by two students not eligible for the 20,000 dollars of cancellation, but especially by a coalition of Republican States.

These states accuse the Democratic administration of having exceeded its powers on the pretext of the pandemic and of having committed taxpayers' money without consulting parliamentarians.

According to them, the 2003 law covers the freezing of debt, not its cancellation.

"The Court must again prevent the government from invoking Covid-19 to seize power far beyond what Congress could have conceived of," the state of Nebraska and its allies wrote in a statement. arguments transmitted before the hearing.

"The Minister of Education acted at the heart of his field of competence, in line with the objectives of the law" of 2003, retorted the government lawyers.

Conservative majority

The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has already inflicted several setbacks on the Democratic administration, invalidating measures taken to block rental evictions during the pandemic or to force certain populations to be vaccinated.

>> To read also: After abortion, why other rights are threatened by the American Supreme Court

To avoid a new snub, the Democratic government argues that the plaintiffs were not entitled to take legal action since they "suffered no harm".

He asks the Court to dismiss their complaint on this basis, without ruling on the merits.

"This case is timely and provides an opportunity to strengthen constitutional safeguards to prevent administrative agencies and branches of the executive from exercising legislative functions," wrote the US Chamber of Commerce, an employers' organization. , hammering that the authorities “cannot take any important political decision without explicit authorization from Congress”.

The Supreme Court used this reasoning in June to limit the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency in its fight against global warming.

If she confirms this, the government could find itself unable to act on important issues.

With AFP

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