Rightwingers threaten legal action on Biden’s student loan debt relief

theguardian.com:

Even before Joe Biden announced his recent plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans for Americans burdened by their unprecedented debt from higher education, the US president was threatened with legal action by his adversaries on the right.

Since the plan was put forward, chatter about a legal threat has grown even louder as Republicans have said they will seek to formulate opposition in the courts. But what remains unclear is how big of a threat those legal challenges actually pose.

Meanwhile, supporters of debt forgiveness are also working on challenging the political threat to the plan as Republicans have also sought to make the program a key talking point during the upcoming midterm elections.

The plan, which includes the forgiveness of federal student loans of up to $20,000 for Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 for all others, with some exceptions, will provide a substantial amount of relief for the millions of Americans encumbered with student loan debt.

Those ineligible for student debt cancellation include individuals who make over the income limit of $125,000 annually, for example.

One of the plan’s staunchest opponents is rightwing Texas senator Ted Cruz. He laid out plans for pursuing legal action against the Biden administration in an interview on a rightwing podcast.

Cruz explained that he and others would have to actively seek out someone that makes over the income limit – and is thus ineligible for any student debt forgiveness – who would be willing to be the plaintiff in a lawsuit, illustrating how they were “harmed” by Biden’s executive action.

Cruz conceded that courts won’t accept just any plaintiff – for example, any taxpayer outraged by Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. “Well, that may