Topline
Democrats attacked the Supreme Court for canceling President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program Friday, accusing justices who have accepted gifts from wealthy donors of “hypocrisy” and “corruption.”
Protesters demand President Biden use “Plan B” to cancel student debt Immediately at a rally outside … [+] of the Supreme Court of the United States on June 30, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We The 45 Million)
Key Facts
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the court sided “with the powerful big-monied interests” in striking down Biden’s student debt relief plan, in favor of six GOP-led states.
“The hypocrisy is clear,” Schumer tweeted, calling out justices for accepting “lavish, six-figure gifts.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused the Supreme Court of “corruption” that “undercuts its own legitimacy by putting its rulings up for sale,” in a tweet that noted Justice Samuel Alito’s ties to billionaire Paul Singer, who leads a group that filed amicus briefs in support of plaintiffs seeking to strike down student debt relief in two separate cases.
Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) called for ethics reforms to the Supreme Court in the wake of the decision.
In tweets, Lee referenced Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, who also accepted gifts from another billionaire Republican mega donor, while McGovern said the court “ought to deliver more transparency, accountability, and justice for all—not luxury vacations for justices while everyday people get screwed.”
Alito and Thomas were among the six justices who ruled Friday that the Biden Administration overstepped its authority in promising up to $20,000 in federal student debt relief to borrowers, delivering a win to Republicans who opposed the program.
What To Watch For
Biden is expected to announce new measures to protect student loan borrowers in a White House address at 3:30 p.m. Biden also used the term “hypocrisy” to condemn Republicans who opposed the program, but advocated for pandemic business loans.
Tangent
Biden, seeking to fulfill a key campaign promise to relieve student debt, promised to forgive $10,000 in federal loans to borrowers making up to $125,000, and $20,000 to those in that group who received Pell Grants. 26 million people had applied for the program when it was stalled in November pending the Supreme Court decision.
Key Background
Alito came under fire earlier this month after ProPublica reported he took a luxury fishing trip in Alaska with Singer and flew there on his private jet, but did not report the purported gifts on his financial disclosures. ProPublica also reported in April that Thomas accepted unreported gifts from Texas real estate titan Harlan Crow for decades, including trips on his private jets and yachts, and stays at his resort in the Adirondacks. Alito argued he did not need to disclose the 2008 trip, because it fell under an exception for “personal hospitality.” Thomas also cited the exception in defending his relationship with Crow, who he called a “close personal friend,” but vowed to change his approach to financial disclosures in line with new rules from the Judicial Conference aimed at increasing transparency for justices’ non-business-related trips. The gifts have sparked widespread calls for ethics reform on the court and the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee has opened a probe into Thomas’s ties to Crow.
Further Reading
Supreme Court Strikes Down Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness (Forbes)
