The Kansas student loan forgiveness lawsuit is the one to watch out for

[Alhena]

I practice law in this area and have kept a pretty close eye on the various lawsuits which have been filed. Standing is the only real issue in this suit since no one seriously thinks SCOTUS would uphold Biden's decision on the merits - the West Virginia v. EPA decision this summer removed any uncertainty in that regard.

The real issue is whether a plaintiff with "standing" can be filed- which basically just means that the plaintiff can show that Biden's actions hurt him in some tangible way. Most of the cases filed so far have very weak standing arguments, and many of them have been dismissed. I don't think the case where the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed student loan forgiveness is any different - the district court was correct in finding that the state AGs who filed that suit lacked standing, and SCOTUS will be hard pressed to disagree, given existing precedent in this area.

There is one variety of plaintiffs with a much stronger standing argument, though. There is a lawsuit filed in Arizona and one in Kansas where the plaintiffs are public or non-profit organizations who say that the debt relief hurts their ability to recruit employees, since their ability to do so depends on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. They say that a potential employee who has had 10-20k in debt forgiven will find working for their organization less attractive because he or she would benefit less from any PSLF forgiveness. That's not a frivolous standing argument.

SCOTUS might well find that to be a valid standing argument- especially since they will no doubt WANT to do so. The Kansas suit is the one to watch, because the Arizona case was assigned to an Obama-appointee judge and would be appealed to the liberal Ninth Circuit. I checked the docket in that case a couple days ago, and the judge involved doesn't seem inclined to move it along very quickly at all.

The Kansas suit, by contrast, was filed before a Trump appointee in a more conservative circuit, and briefing should be complete on the motion for TRO in that case within a couple of weeks. If I were a betting man, I'd say he will rule in favor of the plaintiff and the the appellate court and SCOTUS will agree. Time will tell if this is correct, but I think that's the lawsuit to watch out for.

[boston bean]

1. So they who exist to get loans forgiven are fighting a program to get a portion

of loan forgiven?

This world is fucked.

[rurallib]

2. And then after SCOTUS knocks it down, The MSM will blame Biden

for failing on a campaign promise. See how that works?

ETA - timed for the 2024 election.

[Alhena]

3. Briefing on the TRO motion won't be complete until the day before the election

so presumably the Kansas case won't be resolved before the election. And I don't think any of the others are strong enough for the plaintiffs to prevail.

[underpants]

4. Kansas is the Cato Institute (mentioning the ACLU) right?

Cato, in addition to the constitutional issues, is arguing that the up to $20,000 in debt relief undermines the hiring benefits nonprofits like Cato — and the ACLU — gain from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which is intended to cancel student debt for government and nonprofit workers after ten years of qualifying payments.

https://sentinelksmo.org/cato-institute-files-suit-against-student-loan-forgiveness-program-in-kansas-federal-court/

[MichMan]

5. Who had standing when the DACA cases were being heard?

Last edited Fri Oct 28, 2022, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Who could possibly have been harmed by children being permitted to stay in the country ???


Somebody must have been able to show standing on those cases or it wasn't a consideration.