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Page Number: 6.0

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

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to  notify  the  Reporter  of 
Decisions,  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Washington,  D.  C.  20543, 
pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 22–506 
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JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. 
NEBRASKA, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE UNITED 
STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT 

[June 30, 2023]

 CHIEF  JUSTICE  ROBERTS  delivered  the  opinion  of  the 

Court. 

To ensure that Americans could keep up with increasing 
international  competition,  Congress  authorized  the  first 
federal student loans in 1958—up to a total of $1,000 per 
student each year.  National Defense Education Act of 1958, 
72 Stat. 1584.  Outstanding federal student loans now total
$1.6 trillion extended to 43 million borrowers.  Letter from 
Congressional Budget Office to Members of Congress, p. 3 
(Sept. 26, 2022) (CBO Letter).  Last year, the Secretary of 
Education established the first comprehensive student loan 
forgiveness program, invoking the Higher Education Relief 
Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) for 
authority to do so.  The Secretary’s plan canceled roughly 
$430  billion  of  federal  student  loan  balances,  completely 
erasing the debts of 20 million borrowers and lowering the
median amount owed by the other 23 million from $29,400
to $13,600.  See ibid.; App. 243.  Six States sued, arguing 
that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancella-
tion plan.  We agree.