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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION v. BROWN 

Opinion of the Court 

the  Plan.  They  argue  that  the  Department  of  Education
promulgated the Plan without following mandatory proce-
dures  known  as  (1)  negotiated  rulemaking  and  (2)  notice
and comment.  The District Court held in favor of respond-
ents, and we granted certiorari before judgment to consider
this case alongside Biden v.  Nebraska, No. 22–506, which 
presents a similar challenge to the Plan.

Ultimately, however, we do not resolve respondents’ pro-
cedural claim because we conclude that they lack standing 
to  bring  it.  Accordingly,  we  vacate  the  judgment  of  the
United  States  District  Court  for  the  Northern  District  of 
Texas and remand with instructions to dismiss.  We simul-
taneously deny as moot the Department’s application for a 
stay pending appeal. 

I 
A 

The Court’s opinion in Biden v. Nebraska, ___ U. S. ___ 
(2023), recounts the relevant background of the HEROES
Act, so only a brief summary is provided here.  The Act au-
thorizes the Secretary of Education “to waive or modify any
provision”  applicable  to  federal  “student  financial  assis-
tance”  programs  “as  may  be  necessary  to  ensure  that  . . . 
recipients of student financial assistance” who live or work
in a declared disaster area, or suffer direct economic hard-
ship as a result of a national emergency, “are not placed in 
a worse position financially in relation to that financial as-
sistance because” of the disaster or emergency.  20 U. S. C. 
§§1098bb(a)(1), (a)(2)(A), 1098ee(2)(C)–(D).

In  addition  to  this  substantive  grant  of  authority,  the
HEROES  Act  dispenses  with  certain  procedural  rules  for 
actions taken pursuant to it.

First, the HEROES Act permits the Secretary to imple-
ment  any  “waivers  and  modifications  authorized  or  re-
quired” by the Act without engaging in the “negotiated rule-
making”  that  is  typically  required  before  proposing