Fact Check: Did Biden Ignore Supreme Court Over Student Loan Forgiveness?

President Joe Biden's plans to introduce multi-billion dollar student loan forgiveness schemes have faced repeated backlash from Republican opponents and rejection from the Supreme Court.

In 2023, the Court ruled against a plan put forward by Biden's administration, estimated to cost $400 billion, that would have cut up to $20,000 for borrowers.

However, according to Republican Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, the Biden administration has forged ahead, despite the Supreme Court's rejection, ignoring its ruling.

The Claim

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by Rep. Jim Jordan, on July 2, 2024, viewed 575,100 times, said: "President Biden: No one is above the law.

"Also President Biden: Ignore the Supreme Court and watch me illegally forgive student loans."

The Facts

It's true that the Biden administration has taken steps to reduce payments for citizens with student debt despite a Supreme Court ruling voting against a much wider plan in June 2023.

However, these new plans do not ignore the ruling by the Supreme Court as they are narrower in scope.

The administration had planned to forgive $10,000 to $20,000 of federal student loan debt per borrower, which the White House said would have benefited more than 40 million Americans from debt relief. The program would have granted student borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year up to $10,000 in debt relief, with $20,000 available to Pell Grant recipients who come from low-income households.

The debt forgiveness scheme would have cost about $400 billion, according to figures from the Congressional Budget Office, making it one of the most expensive executive decisions in American history had it not been blocked.

However, the conservative-majority Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn it.

The Biden administration then moved forward with the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan.

The SAVE plan does not provide immediate loan forgiveness but an income-driven repayment (IDR) that reduces monthly payments and the total years you have to pay before remaining balances are forgiven, most applicable to low to middle-income borrowers.

The White House has said that the plan would cut many borrowers' monthly payments to zero, saving others around $1,000 per year, estimating that over 20 million Americans could benefit.

The program has faced two separate legal challenges in Republican-led states, which argue that the president overstepped his authority in implementing his debt relief plans by not acquiring input from Congress.

Last week, federal judges in Kansas and Missouri halted parts of the SAVE plan. In Kansas, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree, ruled in a lawsuit filed by the state attorney general that the Department of Education could not implement parts of the program designed to assist students with larger loans by lowering their monthly payments and reducing their repayment period from 25 years to 20 years.

He permitted parts of the program that allow students who borrowed less than $12,000 to have their remaining loans forgiven after making repayments for 10 years instead of the usual 25 years.

U.S. District Judge John Ross of Missouri ruled that the DoE could not forgive loan balances going forward, but said the federal department could lower monthly payments. He said the DoE "lacks the requisite congressional authority to forgive loans under the SAVE plan."

However, over the weekend U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit put the Kansas injunction on hold, the Education Department saying it will continue cutting undergraduate loan payments, as reported by Reuters.

The White House has not sought a stay of the Missouri ruling.

Research by Newsweek shows that more than $100 billion in student loan forgiveness for more than 3.7 million borrowers has already been implemented including Public Service Loan Forgiveness, updates to income-driven repayment programs, relief for borrowers who qualify for permanent disability, and relief for borrowers who qualify under borrower defense, due to school closures or who have been part of lawsuits.

Other forthcoming plans include military public service loan forgiveness and consolidation of Federal Family Education Loan debt.

The Ruling

Needs Context.

The Biden administration has continued to try implementing new student loan forgiveness plans following a Supreme Court ruling in June 2023 rejected an earlier scheme.

However, the new SAVE plans are not the same as those rejected by the Supreme Court. They apply to fewer people, do not provide immediate loan forgiveness and instead seek to reduce monthly payments and the total number of years until payments are forgiven. These newest plans have faced resistance from Republican-led states.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team