Biden's student loan debt forgiveness plan hit with lawsuit over 'racial motive'
A conservative Wisconsin law firm on Tuesday sued to overturn President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of borrowers, the latest in a flurry of lawsuits nationally that allege the move is unfair and unwise.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, also known as WILL, filed the lawsuit against Biden and the U.S. Education Department in U.S. District Court in Green Bay on behalf of the Brown County Taxpayers Association. The taxpayers association promotes limited government and includes more than 100 members who pay federal taxes and are "on the hook" to pay for Biden's plan.
“Student Loan Debt Relief takes from one group of people and arbitrarily distributes the spoils to another group," Brown County Taxpayers Association President Rich Heidel said in a statement. "The Plan amounts to nothing more than a modern-day version of King George III’s Stamp Act where there was massive taxing and spending without participation of the People’s representatives."
The White House plan would cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers who earn less than $125,000 per year, or less than $250,000 for married couples, or up to $20,000 for those who received federal Pell Grants.
An estimated 40 million borrowers nationally would be eligible for relief, including 685,100 borrowers in Wisconsin. More than 300,000 Wisconsin borrowers could see their entire balances go to zero under the plan, according to the Biden administration.
The application for borrowers to apply for loan forgiveness is expected to be rolled out sometime this month.
WILL has asked the court to immediately block that from happening while the legal battle unfolds “to prevent something quite irreversible and damaging."
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty argues program has racial motivations
WILL alleges that Biden doesn't have unilateral power to forgive student loans without congressional approval and that the forgiveness program was created with racial motivations in violation of the "equal protection doctrine," which requires the government to treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar circumstances.
According to the lawsuit, the White House has explained the purpose of the program is to "narrow the racial wealth gap" and "advance racial equity."
"As such, Defendants have articulated an improper racial motive in creating and implementing the One-Time Student Loan Debt Relief Plan," the lawsuit continues. Read More…
