The Supreme Court is considering President Joe Biden's student loan relief program's destiny and legality after hearing oral arguments on Feb. 28.
While the mostly conservative court is anticipated to knock down the program, one point might still be in the administration's favor: the lawsuits' standing,
which the plaintiffs must prove before the Court can move forward with the case's main issue—whether the program is administrative overreach owing to its use of the HEROES Act.
Cornell Law School states that federal Article 3 standing prohibits lawsuits based on dissatisfaction with government acts or laws.
The Supreme Court created a three-part test to determine whether a party has standing to sue: the plaintiff must have suffered an injury in fact;
There must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct before the court; and it must be likely, rather than speculative, that a favorable court decision will redress the injury.
“A litigant's inability to show standing to sue may result in dismissal of his different claims for relief without a decision on the merits,” according to Congress.
According to the oral arguments transcript, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar claimed the claims lacked standing.
According to Business Insider, the justices focused on standing first since it needed to be decided before discussing the other legal issues.
If there are five votes finding that neither of the parties bringing these lawsuits have standing, then the court doesn't have any authority to decide the issue of whether the action was legal here
Shafroth said it was "entirely possible" that the Supreme Court would side with the plaintiffs, arguing that while the administration did not have constitutional rights to enact the program,
The justices would "recognize our own limits on authority by dismissing this case for lack of Article Three standing," Business Insider reported.