Is Biden's student loan forgiveness program legal? Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against President Biden's far-reaching and controversial initiative to forgive student loan debt. The court seems likely to be skeptical of the administration's bold plan. But it's also possible the justices won't even consider the question. That's because the plaintiffs whose cases are about to be heard might not have the proper standing to bring a legal challenge in the first place. What's in the student loan forgiveness plan? Biden's plan would eliminate up to $10,000 of student debt for borrowers who earn up to $125,000 annually, or up to $250,000 for married couples. Those who received Pell Grants (a form of financial aid for low- and middle-income students) are eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness. About 20 million borrowers could see their loans completely forgiven. How can Biden do this? The question at the core of this case is this: Biden canceled the debt via executive order. Is that allowed? Conservatives generally say no, which is part of why the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority may say the administration overreached in its forgiveness plan. On one hand, presidents have the authority to tell federal agencies what to do, like when President Barack Obama told federal agencies to raise the minimum wage for federal workers. And President George W. Bush signed legislation passed by Congress to forgive student loans on a much smaller scale. But experts disagree on whether Bush — or, now, Biden — could do this without Congress. How is Biden defending his move? Biden's administration said because of the pandemic it has extraordinary powers to act on its own, without authorization from Congress. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has cited the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, which allows the secretary to waive or modify loan provisions in response to a national emergency — in this case the coronavirus pandemic. But the administration has announced it will soon be ending the public health emergency declaration, and the sweeping forgiveness Biden authorized could be a stretch. Will the court buy the pandemic argument? Cardona has used the pandemic as rationale for the government to relieve a large swath of borrowers' student loan debt. But in other recent cases, the Supreme Court has discarded pandemic-era measures. It lifted a moratorium on rental evictions put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and threw out a coronavirus vaccination-or-testing mandate imposed on large businesses by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. How the court could avoid the question entirely The administration's best chance in the student loan plan could be to convince the court that the Republican-led states and individuals who sued over the loan forgiveness plan don't have legal standing. If the Biden administration convinced the court of this, the justices could avoid ruling on the merits of the case. That's because the plaintiffs must show they have suffered a specific injury from the debt forgiveness plan. It's not enough just to object to the program or say the president overstepped his authority. Another U.S. agency says the coronavirus pandemic likely arose from a lab leak. What's going on? Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and governments around the world have been scrambling to determine where and how the coronavirus originated. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Energy Department has concluded the pandemic "most likely arose from a laboratory leak" in Wuhan, China. The FBI has said the same thing, but a national intelligence committee and four other agencies say the virus naturally jumped from animals to humans. Two other agencies are still undecided, including the CIA. The Journal reported that "The Energy Department made its judgment with 'low confidence,' according to people who have read the classified report." The FBI reached its conclusion with "moderate confidence." It's in everyone's interest to know whether the virus originated in the Wuhan laboratory; it holds ramifications for the safety of future research and how another pandemic could be avoided. Yet the origins of the virus have been one of the most heavily politicized pieces of the pandemic. Many conservatives latched onto the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a Chinese lab as researchers were experimenting with various strains, while many liberals denied the possibility of a lab leak as the source. The reality is, there's evidence on both sides, and we still just aren't certain what happened. And we may never find out for sure, given the reticence of the Chinese government to be forthcoming. | 
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