Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-506_nmip.pdf
Page Number: 72

Cite as:  600 U. S. ____ (2023) 

25 

KAGAN, J., dissenting 

selves elected, serve a President with the broadest of all po-
litical constituencies.  But this Court?  It is, by design, as
detached as possible from the body politic.  That is why the
Court  is  supposed  to  stick  to  its  business—to  decide  only 
cases and controversies (but see supra, at 3–13), and to stay
away from making this Nation’s policy about subjects like
student-loan relief.  The policy judgments, under our sepa-
ration of powers, are supposed to come from Congress and 
the  President.  But  they  don’t  when  the  Court  refuses  to 
respect  the  full  scope  of  the  delegations  that  Congress
makes to the Executive Branch.  When that happens, the
Court becomes the arbiter—indeed, the maker—of national 
policy.  See West Virginia, 597 U. S., at ___ (KAGAN, J., dis-
senting) (slip op., at 32) (“The Court, rather than Congress,
will decide how much regulation is too much”).  That is no 
proper role for a court.  And it is a danger to a democratic 
order. 

The  HEROES  Act  is  a  delegation  both  purposive  and
clear.  Recall that Congress enacted the statute after pass-
ing two similar laws responding to specific crises.  See su-
pra, at 14.  Congress knew that national emergencies would 
continue  to  arise.  And  Congress  decided  that  when  they
did, the Secretary should have the power to offer relief with-
out  waiting  for  another,  incident-specific  round  of  legisla-
tion.  Emergencies, after all, are emergencies, where speed
is of the essence.  For similar reasons, Congress replicated 
its prior (two-time) choice to leave the scope and nature of 
the loan relief to the Secretary, so that he could respond to 
varied  conditions.    As  the  House  Report  noted,  Congress
provided  “the  authority  to  implement  waivers”  that  were 
“not yet contemplated” but might become necessary to deal 
with  “any  unforeseen  issues  that  may  arise.”    H.  R.  Rep. 
No. 108–122, pp. 8–9 (2003).  That delegation is at the stat-
ute’s  very  center,  in  its  “waive  or  modify”  language.  And 
the authority it grants goes only to the Secretary—the offi-