Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-535_i3kn.pdf
Page Number: 10.0

6 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION v. BROWN 

Opinion of the Court 

Act  exempts  from  procedural  requirements  only  those  ac-
tions  that  the  Act  substantively  authorizes.    But  the  Dis-
trict Court nonetheless held that the Plan exceeds the Sec-
retary’s  authority  under  the  HEROES  Act  and  therefore 
entered  judgment  vacating  it.  ___  F. Supp.  3d  ___,  ___, 
2022 WL 16858525, *15 (ND Tex., Nov. 10, 2022). 

After  the  Fifth  Circuit  denied  the  Department’s  motion
for a stay pending appeal, the Department applied to this
Court for such a stay.  The Department advised in the al-
ternative that we could treat its application as a petition for 
certiorari before judgment.  We did just that, granting the
Department’s  petition  for  certiorari  before  judgment  and 
deferring  consideration  of  its  application  for  a  stay.    598 
U. S. ___ (2022).  We now review the judgment in No. 22–
535 and dispose of the pending application in No. 22A489. 

II 
We ultimately do not address Brown and Taylor’s argu-
ment that the Department failed to observe proper proce-
dures in promulgating the Plan.  “We have ‘an obligation to
assure ourselves’ of litigants’ standing under Article III” be-
fore  proceeding  to  the  merits  of  a  case.  DaimlerChrysler 
Corp. v. Cuno, 547 U. S. 332, 340 (2006) (quoting Friends of 
the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), 
Inc., 528 U. S. 167, 180 (2000)).  And because we conclude 
that  Brown  and  Taylor  lack  standing,  “[t]his  case  begins 
and ends with standing.”  Carney v. Adams, 592 U. S. ___, 
___ (2020) (slip op., at 4).  In particular, we hold that Brown 
and Taylor fail to establish that any injury they suffer from
not  having  their  loans  forgiven  is  fairly  traceable  to  the 
Plan. 

A 
Our authority under the Constitution is limited to resolv-
ing “Cases” or “Controversies.”  Art. III, §2.  “The doctrine 
of standing,” among others, “implements this” limit on our