Mayes: recent SCOTUS decision continues ‘to perpetuate inequities in higher education’
Rep. La'Tasha D. Mayes June 30, 2023 | 3:06 PM
HARRISBURG, June 30 – State Rep. La’Tasha D. Mayes, D-Allegheny, responded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Biden v. Nebraska, describing it as “continuing to perpetuate inequities in higher education.”
“Consistent with its ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Biden-Harris administration’s Student Loan Debt Relief Plan, creating greater structural economic barriers to higher education by overturning affirmative action and now, student loan debt relief,” Mayes said. “While U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepts six-figure gifts, the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to help Americans with student loan debt, continuing trends of the U.S. Supreme Court exceeding its power.”
The Biden-Harris administration’s Student Loan Debt Relief Plan would have forgiven approximately $400 million in student loan debt, which would have also boosted the economy, she noted.
“I urge President Biden to utilize avenues available to cancel student debt through the Higher Education Act, rather than allowing our highest court in the country to continue to politicize its decisions, which should instead be based on the U.S. Constitution and the plain language of the law, as written in the HEROES Act,” Mayes said.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the U.S. Department of Education did not have the authority to forgive student loans under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act.