A cascade of lawsuits from Republican states could dismantle much of President Joe Biden’s education agenda months before the election.
Dozens of states are targeting the president’s new student loan repayment plan and expanded sex discrimination protections in schools — signature White House policies aimed at younger voters. The challenges threaten to unravel Biden’s few major education successes after a bungled federal aid rollout and legal setbacks to debt relief.
Republican attorneys general accuse the president of overstepping his legal authority and attempting to buy votes with a more generous student loan repayment plan, known as SAVE. They also say Biden is forcing their states to enact policies on gender identity that their constituents don’t support. Some landed their first victory on Thursday when a judge agreed to block the administration’s gender identity protections in their states.
“I don't think it's hard to see that with all of these plans he's pandering to certain constituencies of his voting base,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican who is participating in lawsuits on both issues, said in an interview. “That's pretty flagrantly clear, especially with the debt plan. He's trying to chase the young, recently graduated college vote.”
Judges, appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, are likely to rule on at least eight of the lawsuits in the coming weeks — possibly stalling both policies this summer.
More than a dozen states are challenging the SAVE plan, which restructures how borrowers repay their federal student loans. Biden has touted the program as a way to cut their payments in half, with millions of borrowers paying no monthly amount. The Education Department enrolled nearly 8 million people after top administration officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, spent weeks promoting it.
The plan will cap monthly payments at 5 percent of income starting next month. It already curbs interest accrual to prevent balances from ballooning and offers a quicker path to loan forgiveness to some borrowers with smaller balances.
“Joe Biden understands it’s his job to make Americans' lives better and is exactly why he’s fighting like hell to ease the burden of student debt and make sure our children can go to school without fear of discrimination,” said Seth Schuster, a Biden campaign spokesperson.
The White House referred comments to the Education Department, which called the legal attack on SAVE “yet another attempt by Republican elected officials to prevent their own constituents from the student debt relief they earned and are entitled to.”
Education advocates who support the president’s regulations have excoriated the lawsuits, arguing that the states are not thinking about how to address student loan debt.
“Young voters are smart,” said Jack Lobel, press secretary for Voters of Tomorrow, a left-leaning group that tries to draw out Gen Z voters. “We see who is responsible for attacking our efforts at student debt relief, and that is Trump and his allies. … [Biden’s] persistence on this issue and a range of others is a sign that he is dedicated to addressing our concerns.”
At least 26 states are also pursuing lawsuits against the administration’s Title IX regulation, which codifies protections for transgender students under the federal law that bans sex-based discrimination.
The rule makes good on Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to unravel much of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ own Title IX rule, a defining policy of her time in office. Her rule aimed to bolster the due process rights of students who are accused of sexual misconduct and create a process to investigate incidents on campus.
Many GOP states say Biden’s rule violates the original intent of Title IX. More than two dozen states have laws restricting transgender students from participating on women’s sports teams, although transgender women can compete in the Olympics and some other professional sports. Several states, including Texas and Florida, are telling schools not to abide by the updated Title IX rule when it takes effect in August.
“You can't comply with Title IX as it was written and enforced for the last 50 years, and also comply with these regulations,” said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who is leading the lawsuit that blocked Title IX in her state. “You will violate biological women's rights by enforcing the rules the way that they've rewritten them.”
Vanessa Harmoush, an Education Department spokesperson, said the agency stands by the updated regulation. “Every student deserves the right to feel safe in school,” she said.
The challenges are going to keep coming.
GOP attorneys general have vowed to sue the Biden administration if it finalizes its separate rule on transgender athletes and women’s sports. GOP states are already preparing to go after Biden’s next student loan debt relief plan, which could take effect this fall and would forgive up to $20,000 in unpaid interest for millions of Americans.
“Joe Biden is trying to unabashedly eclipse the Constitution with his attempt to ‘cancel’ student loan debt,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said on the social platform X, after details of the plan came out. “The rule of law means something in this country, @POTUS. See you in court.”
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