(NewsNation) — United States Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan dissented from the court’s ruling to strike down the president’s student debt relief plan, saying the court’s “first overreach in this case is deciding it at all.”
“The plaintiffs in this case are six States that have no personal stake in the Secretary’s loan forgiveness plan,” Kagan wrote. “They are classic ideological plaintiffs: They think the plan a very bad idea, but they are no worse off because the Secretary differs.”
Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined in the dissent.
The Supreme Court released its opinion that struck down President Joe Biden’s hallmark student debt relief plan on Friday. The Court issued opinions on two student loan cases brought against the plan, which would have affected millions of Americans.
In the first case, Department of Education v. Brown, the Court unanimously ruled the plaintiffs had no standing to bring the case.
In the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, in a 6-3 vote, the Court ruled the HEROES Act did not authorize the secretary of education to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal.
“Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure,” Kagan wrote. “But this Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because (so says the Court) that assistance is too ‘significant’.”