US Supreme Court doubt over student debt relief looms over Biden agenda

Questions posed by the conservative justices during arguments on Tuesday over Biden's debt relief indicated that the conservative-majority court could strike down the plan as an unlawful overreach of executive power.

The conservative justices may apply the exacting legal standard that they have used to undo prior policy actions by Biden - one that could stop him from employing executive power to enact other items on his agenda even as he deals with a divided Congress unlikely to pass legislation he wants.

Republicans control the House of Representatives while Biden's fellow Democrats control the Senate.

The court is due to rule by the end of June on the legality of the debt relief, which the administration argued was lawful under authority given to the executive branch by the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act. That 2003 law authorizes the US education secretary to "waive or modify" student financial assistance during war or national emergencies, in this case the COVID-19 pandemic.