SCOTUS Tackles Unconstitutional, and Unwise, Student Loan Cancelation

Clark Neily andNeal McCluskeyWhen President Bidenannounced that he would unilaterally cancel up to $20,000 of federal student debt for almost everyone holding any, he may have thought his action unstoppable. No one, he might have concluded, would have standing in court to block him. But the legal sailing hasn ’t been so smooth, with two courts finding that the plaintiffs had standing, and the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear their cases tomorrow. If the Supreme Court agrees that the plaintiffs have standing, Biden’s declaration is in big trouble, because it’s clearly unconstitutional.It ’s also terrible policy.Biden ’s attempt to forgive student loans is unconstitutional for the simple reason that it was not authorized by Congress and the president has no unilateral authority to spend public tax dollars however he sees fit. Indeed, as anamicus brief submitted by a  dozen former high‐​ranking government officials with “centuries of experience in the constitutional and statutory strictures of U.S. budgetary policy” explains, the power of the purse is among the most jealously guarded prerogatives and one of the Constitution’s most powerful protections against tyranny. As a result, spending statutes must be strictly construed to safeguard the separation of powers and prevent presidents from usurping a role that belongs to Congress alone.One way to think of it, as Cato shows in its ownamicus brief, is if a  teenager’s parents went on vacation and gave the t...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs