The Supreme Court’s rejection on Friday of President Biden’s student debt relief plan instantly unravels one of the president’s signature efforts and ratchets up the pressure on him to find a new way to make good on a promise to a key constituency as the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway.
When Mr. Biden announced last summer that his government would forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt, student advocacy groups and many progressives cheered the move, which was projected to help 40 million people and cost $400 billion.
“People can start finally to climb out from under that mountain of debt,” Mr. Biden said.
His plan, which came after months of agonizing about who it would benefit and whether it was too costly, would have been a centerpiece of his argument to voters that his economic agenda is designed to help low- and middle-income Americans blaze a path to greater prosperity.
Instead, a majority of the justices agreed with critics who said the president’s debt relief plan went beyond the president’s authority under congressional legislation allowing changes to student loans during a public emergency.
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Biden’s, Biden, Mr