Amicus Briefs
Alaska, South Carolina, and Texas v. Department of Education
CASE SUMMARY
NCLA urges the Supreme Court to restore a preliminary injunction against the Biden Department of Education’s illegal “SAVE” plan for wiping out $475 billion in student loan debt. The Department’s scheme rewrites 1993 amendments to the High Education Act (HEA), transforming loan-repayment plans that Congress authorized into loan-cancellation plans. In an unreasoned decision, a divided panel of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit panel stayed the district court’s injunction blocking the Department’s new plan. Partnering with the Cato Institute, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy as amici curiae, NCLA calls for an end to this unconstitutional attempt to wield legislative power.
The district court issued the preliminary injunction stopping SAVE because the states of Alaska, South Carolina, and Texas are likely to prevail in their claim that it exceeds the Secretary of Education’s authority under the 1993 HEA amendments. The amendments state that that “income contingent repayment shall be based on the [borrower’s] adjusted gross income,” and would “not … exceed 25 years.” Department claims this language allows it to enact SAVE, an income-contingent repayment plan with low monthly payments so very little would be repaid by the end of the repayment period, at which point the substantial remaining balance would be cancelled.
Nothing in the 1993 amendments’ text or legislative history suggests Congress granted the Department discretion to design plans like SAVE that prioritize the cancellation of loans instead of their repayment. Indeed, if the 1993 law granted such power, it would be unconstitutional because it contains no intelligible principle to guide the Department’s discretion of how generous to make repayment plans.
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RELEVANT MATERIALS
NCLA FILINGS
Order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
August 22, 2024 | Read More
Amici Curiae Brief of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, the Cato Institute, and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants Alaska, South Carolina, and Texas
July 29, 2024 | Read More
Amici Curiae Brief of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, the Cato Institute, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies in Support of Applicants' Request for Vacatur of Stay
July 16, 2024 | Read More