“President Biden’s fiat here is nothing more than a modern-day Stamp Act,” they argued, calling it “a massive taxing and spending policy passed without participation of the People’s representatives.”
On Wednesday, the Brown County Taxpayers Association asked the Supreme Court to pull the brakes on the Biden administration's nearly $1 trillion student loan forgiveness plan, which recently began accepting applications.
The group, whose prior attempts to block the program in state courts had failed, filed a "writ of injunction pending appeal," arguing that the government was acting unconstitutionally.
The BCTF alleged that Biden, other high-ranking officials, and the Department of Education had "unconstitutionally and unlawfully exercised 'congressional power under the taxing and spending clause of Art. 1, § 8, of the Constitution' by forgiving student loan debt owed to the federal treasury, which is an appropriation of federal funds … and therefore 'exceed[ed] specific constitutional limitations imposed upon the exercise' of that power."
The group argued that in implementing the program, the government had violated Article I § 9 of the Constitution's Appropriations Clause, as well as the Equal Protection doctrine and the Administrative Procedures Act.
They called on the Supreme Court to block the Biden administration from carrying out the program via a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, and to issue declaratory judgments stating that the administration had acted unconstitutionally and must go through Congress.
The BCTF decried the fact that Biden had acted "unilaterally and without any legal authority from Congress," equating the situation to that of pre-Independence America, "when the Founding Fathers complained that King George III imposed 'Taxes on us without our Consent' and with them 'erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance'."
"President Biden’s fiat here is nothing more than a modern-day Stamp Act," they argued, calling it "a massive taxing and spending policy passed without participation of the People’s representatives."
The group also called out the government's insistence on declaring the entire country to be a "disaster area," thus allowing anyone under a certain income level to qualify for student loan relief under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, as well as the goals of racial equity written into the plan.
"Officials from the previous two administrations have determined that the President does not have the power to forgive student loans in this manner," they argued.
According to CNBC, the BCTF filed with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is in charge of handling emergency application requests from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, after having their case dismissed by federal judges in Green Bay and Chicago.
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