(C) Common Dreams This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ahead of Supreme Court’s Student Loans Ruling, Advocates Fear Another ‘Dobbs-Style’ Response From White House [1] [] Date: 2023-06-29 20:45:07 Student debt relief advocates are urging the Biden administration to respond swiftly when the Supreme Court rules on the presidents' loan forgiveness plan, but they worry it will “dilly-dally" on next steps. They say they don’t want to see a repeat of last year, when Democrats criticized the administration for responding too slowly to the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling that overturned federal abortion rights, even though a leaked draft opinion gave them two months to prepare. While no such leak has occurred on the student loans case, it has been clear for months the Supreme Court would rule on it this summer. And justices on the conservative-led court appeared skeptical when hearing oral arguments in the case earlier this year. If the administration, which hasn’t telegraphed an alternative plan, isn’t ready to respond to the ruling on debt relief right away, advocates fear conservatives will have a chance to regroup and win the upper hand. “We have been invoking Dobbs left and right,” said Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective, a membership-based union for debtors and allies that has expressed its concerns to the White House. “It is imperative that not only they act when this decision is handed down, but that they act fast and this actually applies for a positive decision.” While unlikely, Taylor said she could see a “fleeting chance” that the Supreme Court upholds the policy, tosses out the cases “and the Biden administration moves like a snail again, and another Trump judge issues an injunction on baseless grounds.” The high court is expected to rule on Friday in two separate cases challenging President Joe Biden’s one-time, $400-billion plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans for qualifying borrowers. Justices are weighing whether the administration exceeded its authority and whether the challengers – six states and two borrowers – have standing to bring the lawsuits. “I’m confident we’re on the right side of the law,” Biden told reporters a day after arguments. “But I’m not confident about the outcome of the decision yet.” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said he hopes the White House “learned a lesson” from Dobbs. “The key words are acting swiftly and boldly,” Green said. Absent an outright win, the administration should respond with either different legal authority or immediately sending out letters to erase debt – and not “not dilly-dally and let the right wing file more lawsuits.” That will only result in “pressure aimed at the White House that really should be negative energy aimed at the Court," marshaled on the side of the White House, he said. A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the record for this story. The ruling is expected as 43 million borrowers face the end of a pandemic-era freeze on federal student debt payments in October. More than half of student loan borrowers have repayment concerns, according to a Financial Health Network analysis. “We are bracing ourselves for a torrent of emails at the highest level of distress, including suicidal messages, if this gets killed,” Taylor said. “They need to deliver on this because people’s lives are on the line.” The administration has argued that the HEROES Act – Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 – authorizes the Secretary of Education to grant relief from student loan requirements during national emergencies, such as the pandemic. Taylor said the law is appropriate, but as a backup, the administration has broader authorities under the Higher Education Act to forgive loans. They also could be creative with repayment plans or they could initiate another pause on repayments, she said. Legislation to suspend the debt ceiling bars further extensions of the current freeze, but Taylor suggested the administration could pause repayments again under a different emergency or using the Higher Education Act. An Education Department spokesperson said they are working to help borrowers “successfully navigate the return to repayment with the pandemic now behind us.” But the spokesperson declined to comment when asked about a backup plan if the Supreme Court ruling isn’t in the administration’s favor. Wisdom Cole, NAACP National Director of Youth & College, said in a statement to The Messenger that the administration promised to cancel student debt and thousands of Americans applied for relief that they were told was "on the way." "Keeping this in mind, we expect the Administration to address the American people swiftly and decisively once a decision has come down," the NAACP statement said. "In the wake of a rogue court and an ineffective legislative body, the American people look to their Executive, and their Executive needs to deliver. " Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), in an interview in May with Politico, said the “most crucial question” is whether the administration is prepared to move forward with modified or expanded rules to accommodate an opinion overturning the plan and still give people relief. “Is it possible that the Court may overturn it based on grounds that are potentially unforeseen or less foreseen?” she asked. “Potentially. But we should not walk into a Dobbs-style situation where we literally had the ruling months in advance, and it seemed as though the response was not fully prepared for when we literally had the answers. We should not be in that situation.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://themessenger.com/politics/ahead-of-supreme-courts-student-loans-ruling-advocates-fear-another-dobbs-style-response-from-white-house Published and (C) by Common Dreams Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/