Supreme Court will rule on major cases dealing with student loans, LGBTQ rights Friday

The Supreme Court is expected to issue rulings Friday in major cases related to President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan — and gay rights. 

The decisions will come on the last day before the high court’s summer recess.

In Biden v. Nebraska, the court will decide if the president’s controversial executive order to wipe out $400 billion in student loans violates the separation of powers as well as procedures of administrative law.

The case was brought by the attorneys general of six Republican-led states — Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina — and argues it was unconstitutional that Biden, instead of new legislation, used the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act to classify debt cancellation as a benefit. 

The court will also rule on Department of Education v. Brown, a second legal challenge to Biden’s student loan bailout brought by the conservative Job Creators Network Foundation, which backs a lawsuit filed by two borrowers who didn’t qualify for the program’s full benefits.

One of the borrowers who sued the Biden administration in Texas has commercially held student loans; the other is only eligible for $10,000 in debt relief, not the $20,000 maximum.

During oral arguments in February, Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s six-member conservative majority appeared skeptical of arguments that Biden has the authority to unilaterally wipe away billions of dollars in federal student loan debt. 

Also due to be decided is 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis — whether businesses can deny services to LGBTQ customers. 

The case was brought by Colorado graphic designer Lorie Smith, who argues it’s her First Amendment right to refuse to design same-sex wedding websites, despite the state’s anti-discrimination law prohibiting businesses from discriminating against members of the LGBTQ community.

In arguments last year, the high court’s conservative justices appeared sympathetic to arguments from Smith’s lawyer. 

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission that a Colorado baker had the right to refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

But that ruling was narrow and didn’t affect the state’s anti-discrimination law or make a judgment on whether businesses are entitled to a freedom of speech exemption. A ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis will likely resolve the remaining questions from the 2018 decision.