Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-535_i3kn.pdf
Page Number: 17.0

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

13 

Opinion of the Court 

Lemon v. Geren, 514 F. 3d 1312, 1314–1315 (CADC 2008). 
But they must still show—pursuant to our customary trace-
ability  standards—that  the  Plan’s  substance  causes  their 
injury by impairing loan relief under the HEA. 

Brown  and  Taylor  cannot  meet  this  standard. 

“It  is 
purely  speculative  whether  the  denia[l]”  of  HEA  loan  re-
lief—their  ostensible  injury—“fairly  can  be  traced  to”  the 
Department’s decision to grant loan relief in the Plan.  Si-
mon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U. S. 
26, 42–43 (1976); see also Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490, 
503–504 (1975).

As noted above, HEROES Act loan relief and HEA loan 
relief function independently of each other.  If the Depart-
ment  may  lawfully  grant  loan  relief  under  both  the 
HEROES  Act  and  the  HEA,  it  is  entitled  to  choose  to  do 
both, neither, or only one (provided that it sufficiently ex-
plains its reasoning, see 5 U. S. C. §706(2)(A)).  There is lit-
tle reason to think that its discretionary decision to pursue
one  mechanism  of  loan  relief  has  anything  to  do  with  its
discretionary  decision  to  pursue  (or  not  pursue)  another. 
“The line of causation between” the Department’s promul-
gation of the Plan and respondents’ lack of benefits under 
the  HEA  “is  attenuated  at  best,”  Allen,  468  U. S.,  at  757, 
and  all  too  dependent  on  “ ‘conjecture,’ ”  Summers,  555 
U. S., at 496. 

2 
Respondents’ attempts to tie the Plan to potential HEA
relief are unavailing.  They point to a handful of documents
related to the Plan that say that the Department is provid-
ing “one-time” student-loan relief.  See, e.g., App. 215, 221, 
225.  Such statements, Brown and Taylor argue, show that
the  decision  to  grant  loan  relief  under  the  HEROES  Act 
foreclosed HEA relief. 

This is insufficient.  The Plan itself—the action under re-
view here—contains no reference to “one-time” relief.  See