Mr. Biden Will See His Student Loans Relief Plan Begin, Shortly... Eighth Circuit Will Side With Him.

The Eighth Circuit will shortly dump the appeal of these states. You may bank on it. They lost at the trial court level (without need for any trial, at all), due to their fundamental lack of standing -- to even bring a claim like this. The states cannot complain about how the President implements a spending provision, from the Congress, duly enacted.

The government has laid it all bare, in its overnight brief. Here's a bit of that excellent 37 page brief:

. . .In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretaries from two Administrations invoked that authority to suspend interest accrual and payments on federally held student loans. As those protections wind down, the Secretary reasonably determined it necessary to provide targeted debt relief to federal student-loan borrowers affected by the pandemic. Six States seek to enjoin the Secretary’s action, but the district court correctly held they lack standing.

Plaintiffs cannot establish the need for injunctive relief. Plaintiffs do not have Article III standing, and even if they did, they are unlikely to succeed on their claims given Congress’s authorization for the Secretary’s action and the Secretary’s explicit consideration of the relevant factors. . . .

The statutory phrase “deems necessary” (which plainly appears in the HEROES Act). . . ”exudes deference” to the Secretary; see Webster v. Doe, 486 U.S. 592, 600 (1988) -- that precluded judicial review altogether. . . . .

Now you know -- smiling, in the soft cool rains, as I head out, to the steel and glass canyons, once more. . . .

नमस्ते