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Page Number: 2

2 

BIDEN v. NEBRASKA 

Syllabus 

invoked the HEROES Act to issue “waivers and modifications” reduc-
ing or eliminating the federal student debt of most borrowers.  Borrow-
ers  with  eligible  federal  student  loans  who  had  an  income  below 
$125,000 in either 2020 or 2021 qualified for a loan balance discharge 
of up to $10,000.  Those who previously received Pell Grants—a spe-
cific type of federal student loan based on financial need—qualified for
a discharge of up to $20,000. 

Six  States  challenged  the  plan  as  exceeding  the  Secretary’s  statu-
tory  authority.    The  Eighth  Circuit  issued  a  nationwide  preliminary 
injunction, and this Court granted certiorari before judgment.  

Held: 

1. At least Missouri has standing to challenge the Secretary’s pro-
gram.  Article  III  requires  a  plaintiff  to  have  suffered  an  injury  in 
fact—a  concrete  and  imminent  harm  to  a  legally  protected  interest,
like property or money—that is fairly traceable to the challenged con-
duct and likely to be redressed by the lawsuit.  Lujan v. Defenders of 
Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555, 560–561.  Here, as the Government concedes, 
the Secretary’s plan would cost MOHELA, a nonprofit government cor-
poration created by Missouri to participate in the student loan market, 
an estimated $44 million a year in fees.  MOHELA is, by law and func-
tion, an instrumentality of Missouri: Labeled an “instrumentality” by
the State, it was created by the State, is supervised by the State, and
serves a public function.  The harm to MOHELA in the performance of
its public function is necessarily a direct injury to Missouri itself.  The 
Court reached a similar conclusion 70 years ago in Arkansas v. Texas, 
346 U. S. 368. 

The Secretary emphasizes that, as a public corporation, MOHELA 
has a legal personality separate from the State.  But such an instru-
mentality—created and supervised by the State to serve a public func-
tion—remains  “(for  many  purposes  at  least)  part  of  the  Government 
itself.”  Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, 513 U. S. 
374, 397.  The Secretary also contends that because MOHELA can sue 
on its own behalf, it—not Missouri—must be the one to sue.  But where 
a State has been harmed in carrying out its responsibilities, the fact 
that it chose to exercise its authority through a public corporation it
created and controls does not bar the State from suing to remedy that
harm itself.  See Arkansas, 346 U. S. 368.  With Article III satisfied, 
the Court need not consider the States’ other standing arguments.  Pp.
7–12. 

2. The HEROES Act allows the Secretary to “waive or modify” exist-
ing  statutory  or  regulatory  provisions  applicable  to  financial  assis-
tance programs under the Education Act, but does not allow the Sec-
retary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of
student loan principal.  Pp. 12–26.