SCOTUS blocks student debt relief, surprising no one

The Supreme Court strikes down student loan debt forgiveness; Sudanese paramilitary forces are accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

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SCOTUS blocks student loan relief for millions

Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

• Friday, in a 6-3 ruling, with conservatives making up the majority, the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive student debt for over 40 million Americans. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]
• Chief Justice John Roberts said the Biden administration overstepped its authority. Justice Elena Kagan, writing in dissent for the three liberals, argued the Court had exceeded its power. [New York Times / Adam Liptak]
• Biden’s plan relied on a federal law that grants emergency powers to the education department; he hoped to forgive up to $20,000 for borrowers making up to $125,000 per year. [Reuters / John Kruzel]
• After more than three years on hiatus, student loan repayments will resume in October. Interest begins accruing in September. [Vox / Allie Volpe]
• Student loan advocates are urging Biden to use other measures to circumvent the Court, including a law that empowers the secretary of education to collect and potentially forgive student debt. [Vox / Christian Paz]

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Vox’s Nicole Narea explains the potential economic impacts of restarting student debt repayments in five charts. [Vox / Nicole Narea]

Ethnic violence rocks Sudan

• UK politicians are calling for sanctions against Sudan as the nation’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are reportedly committing ethnic cleansing in the western Darfur region. [Guardian/ Kaamil Ahmed]
• Since April, Sudan’s military and the RSF have been fighting for control of the country in intense battles that have killed at least 1,000 people and displaced more than 2 million. [BBC / Zeinab Mohammed Salih and Cecilia Macaulay]
• Tensions between Arabs and non-Arabs are now erupting in western Darfur where RSF forces are accused of targeting civilians based on ethnic identities. Genocide killed over 400,000 non-Arabs in the region 20 years ago. [Al Jazeera / Jérôme Tubiana]
• The international community has only contributed half of the $3 billion the UN requested to help refugees in Sudan and neighboring countries. Relief workers are struggling to administer available aid. [New Humanitarian / Philip Kleinfeld and Mohammed Amin]

Federal judges have struck down bans on gender-affirming care for trans youth in five states, mainly because the laws are unconstitutional. [Vox / Li Zhou]

• The conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled Colorado can’t force a conservative Christian to design a website for gay couples because it would violate the right to free speech. [Quartz/ Diego Lasarte]
• Russia is reportedly reducing the number of staff occupying the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southern Ukraine, raising fears of an attack. [Guardian / Luke Harding]
• A man faces assault charges for allegedly stabbing a professor and three others in a hate-motivated incident during a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo in Canada. [NBC News / Chantal Da Silva]

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“Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.” 

[Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion on the same-sex wedding website case / The Hill]

The “stewardess rebellion” fought the industry and won. [YouTube]

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