SCOTUS weighs Biden’s student loan relief program

The Supreme Court hears challenges to  Biden’s student loan forgiveness program; Israeli-Palestinian violence worsens in the West Bank.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

The challenges to Biden’s student loan forgiveness program

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• The 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in two cases challenging President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]
• Biden’s program would forgive $10,000 for borrowers earning up to $125,000 per year, and up to $20,000 for economically disadvantaged students who received Pell grants. [NBC News / Lawrence Hurley]
• The Department of Education has had 26 million people apply, and estimates over 40 million are eligible. [New York Times / Stacy Cowley]
• In the first case, six Republican-led states argued the plan oversteps executive authority and would hurt revenue. In the second, two students say the plan harms them because they are not eligible. [Washington Post / Danielle Douglas-Gabriel]
• The Biden administration argues the HEROES Act, passed following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, grants the Department of Education power to waive loans during a national emergency — and that the pandemic constitutes such an emergency. [NPR / Nina Totenberg]
• Student loan repayments have been suspended since March 2020 because of the pandemic, and will resume after the Supreme Court issues its final opinion, expected in June. [Associated Press / Jessica Gresko]

Israel and Palestine’s mounting tensions

• A suspected Palestinian gunman on Tuesday shot and killed a 27-year-old Israeli American motorist in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities. [AP]
• The killing comes a day after hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked and burned the Palestinian town of Hawara to seek revenge for two Israelis killed in the same area. [Axios / Barak Ravid]
• Violence in the region continues despite Israeli and Palestinian officials agreeing to deescalate violence at a meeting in Jordan. [USA Today / Michael Collins]
• Israeli forces have killed more than 60 Palestinians this year, including 11 last Wednesday in one of the worst West Bank raids in years. [BBC / George Wright]

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Iran is investigating the poisoning of hundreds of girls with toxic gas in schools across the country; there’s concern the poisonings were designed to prevent the students from receiving an education. [BBC / Maryam Afshang]

• Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will sign a bill restricting drag shows over claims the performances harm children. [Washington Post / Annabelle Timsit]
• Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, in a meeting that could clarify Beijing’s position on the war in Ukraine. [AP]
• The White House on Monday ordered all federal agencies to remove TikTok from government phones in 30 days over data security concerns. [Reuters / David Shepardson]

“Congress could not have made this much more clear.”

[Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on executive authority to cancel student debt / NBC News]

Biden's border orders

President Biden promised a more humane approach to immigration when he entered office. After two years and a flurry of activity on asylum policies, the Washington Post’s Nick Miroff explains whether Biden has delivered.

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