Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach can’t sue over President Joe Biden’s plan to eliminate some student debt, according to a District Court judge who said the state didn’t have the legal authority to challenge the Biden administrations new loan forgiveness plan.
In a 46-page opinion, released Friday, Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled that eight of the 11 states that sought to challenge a Biden administration effort to forgive student loan debt — called the SAVE plan — didn’t adequately show how they would be harmed by the policy.
Crabtree said only Alaska, South Carolina and Texas were able to show that the debt forgiveness plan could harm their states. He roundly dismissed the argument Kansas, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska and Utah could sue because of a potential loss of tax revenue.
“No court has ever bought into this theory, and this court declines to become the first,” Crabtree wrote. “These plaintiffs simply have no skin in the game. Their answer to Justice Scalia’s colloquial expression of standing—What’s it to you?—is this: It’s nothing. “
Kobach launched the lawsuit in March, challenging one aspect of the Biden administration’s series of plans to reduce student loan debt. The lawsuit focused specifically on Biden’s save plan, which reduced payments for some student loan borrowers and would forgive loans of $12,500 or less after 10 years of payments from the borrower.
Kobach’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Biden administration’s new plan came after a group of six conservative-led states successfully challenged the White House’s effort to forgive up to $20,000 in loans for some borrowers. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling hinged on Missouri’s quasi-governmental student loan agency, called MOHELA, which helps Missouri pay for scholarship programs.
Weeks after Kobach filed his lawsuit, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey launched his own lawsuit with six attorneys general against the student loan plan — filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Opening arguments in the case started last week and the judge has yet to rule.
While smaller and more complex plan than the Biden administration’s original effort the White House claimed in May that the SAVE plan could help 8 million borrowers across the country — including 3,620 in Kansas who have an outstanding loan balance of around $50 million. It’s part of a wider effort that includes changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and the income-driven repayment program.
In all, the White House says it has used the three programs to forgive $167 billion in loans for 4.75 million Americans — a smaller population than the up to 40 million who would have seen relief from the program struck down by the Supreme Court.
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