Biden attacks Republican ‘hypocrisy’ after supreme court blocks student debt relief – live

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In a speech at the White House scheduled to start soon, Joe Biden is expected to announce his next moves after the supreme court’s conservative majority stopped him from canceling $430bn in federal student loan debt.

Follow this blog as we cover the speech live.

It’s the Friday afternoon before the Independence Day holiday weekend, and the state department just happened to choose this moment to release a report critical of its handling of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

America’s diplomatic arm “failed to establish a broader task force as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated”, and “it was unclear who in the Department had the lead,” the report determined, according to the Associated Press. The document was completed in March 2022, but the Biden administration only decided to release it now, though many parts of it remain withheld from the public.

Fortunately for the people of the United States and Afghanistan alike, the AP has it covered extensively:

The State Department failed to do enough planning before the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan, according to a Biden administration review of the department’s performance during the chaotic evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies.

The review repeatedly blames the administrations of both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden for their efforts before and after the August 2021 departure of U.S. forces from Kabul. The U.S. evacuated an estimated 124,000 Afghans from the country.

Republicans have in turn accused Biden of not taking responsibility for intelligence failures leading up to the Taliban’s seizure of the country and for the scenes of chaos at Kabul’s airport, where 13 Marines died in a suicide bombing.

The Biden administration released sections of the long-awaited State report, which was completed in March 2022, on the Friday before the July 4 holiday weekend, though it withheld most of the report from public release. It had released a National Security Council review of the withdrawal on the day before Good Friday and the Easter weekend but declined to issue internal Pentagon and State Department assessments.

A State Department task force helped bring out nearly 2,000 Afghan citizens in July and early August 2021, weeks before the Aug. 31, 2021, deadline the U.S. set for withdrawal. They were eligible for processing under a special U.S. visa program for Afghans.

But State “failed to establish a broader task force as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated,” the report says.

And as the military planned for an evacuation of American civilians and Afghan allies, “it was unclear who in the Department had the lead,” it says.

“The decisions of both President Trump and President Biden to end the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security,” the report says. “Those decisions are beyond the scope of this review, but the (review) team found that during both administrations there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow.”

After a rough week for Democratic policies at the supreme court, this seven-year-old post from Hillary Clinton is making the rounds on progressive Twitter:

The three supreme court justices Donald Trump appointed – Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh – all supported the court’s decisions this week overturning affirmative action and Joe Biden‘s student debt forgiveness program, as well as curbing laws that protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.

Several dozen demonstrators gathered outside the supreme court on Friday following its decision to strike down the Biden’s administration’s student loan forgiveness plan and block millions of borrowers from receiving debt relief.

Tori Wanzer of Maryland was visibly disappointed by the conservative justices’ decision as she stood outside the court with a group representing the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). “It’s absolutely ridiculous,” she told the Guardian. “This ruling negatively impacts so many different groups of people.”

Wanzer questioned the court’s motivation “because it doesn’t seem like it’s for the greater good”. Comparing the decision with Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis‘s rejection of an Advanced Placement class on African American studies, she said Friday’s ruling felt like it was “just one thing after another”.

“It’s 2023 and we’ve gotten more progressive, with certain movements and groups of people who can be loud and proud with their rights. [The court’s ruling] is a way to stop that. It’s a way for them to take control over who gets assistance and acceptance into certain institutions and who doesn’t – who’s forced to suffer and who is helped to greatness,” Wanzer said.

Bryanna Mitchell, 24, from Arizona, said she was “shocked’ when she heard the court’s ruling today, and that she decided to attend the protest on behalf of the AFT because it was “very necessary to show up for all the people who have student debt” and to call on Joe Biden to “follow through with what he promised us”.

Shanna Hayes of New York described the “shame” she used to feel about carrying her student loan. “It’s not just me,” said Hayes, 34, who is an economic justice fellow at the Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC). “Many of us have heard the rhetoric – that I’ve made poor decisions, and that I need to pay my bills”.

“But it’s not just people who are in their twenties and thirties. It’s people who are grandparents who are struggling. It’s people who can’t retire because all their retirement funds are going to be taken by the government because they’ve defaulted on their student loans.”

SDCC managing director Sabrina Calazans said the supreme court’s ruling felt like a “gut punch”. “We’re just heartbroken by this decision”, the 26-year-old said.

Calazans said she regularly spoke with people about how they were being personally impacted by student debt. “We hear from people who can’t retire, who can’t get married, who can’t start a family, and who can’t invest in their futures”.

“We need to do something about it. It’s poor, working-class folks, middle-class folks, Black and brown Americans who are disproportionately impacted by student debt.”

The supreme court has the kibosh on Joe Biden‘s plan to cancel some federal student debt, but progressives insist the president still has options.

“Today, I am urging the Biden administration to implement a Plan B immediately to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans who are struggling to pay the rent, put food on the table, and pay for the basic necessities of life,” said independent senator Bernie Sanders, a longtime proponent of student debt cancellation.

“Despite this legally unsound supreme court decision, the president has the clear authority under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel student debt. He must use this authority immediately. If Republicans could provide trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the top one percent and profitable corporations, if they could cancel hundreds of billions in loans for wealthy business owners during the pandemic when Trump was president and if they could vote to spend $886bn on the Pentagon, please don’t tell me that we cannot afford to cancel student debt for working families.”

His call was echoed by Democratic congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who agreed Biden has the legal authority to relieve debt:

Prosecutors said today that they have turned over more than 80,000 pages of materials to congressman George Santos‘s lawyers in the federal fraud and money laundering case against him, the Associated Press reports.

The documents weren’t publicly released, as is common during this stage of a case. The barely five-minute hearing at a Long Island courthouse focused on the case schedule, with the next court date set for 7 September.

Santos didn’t speak in court, nor (unlike last time) to journalists waiting outside. The New York Republican, known for fabricating key parts his life story, is free on bond, awaiting trial.

Santos pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, collected fraudulent unemployment benefits and lied to Congress about being a millionaire.

Prosecutors have charged Santos with 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Meanwhile ABC reports that someone who did speak outside the court was the military veteran Richard Osthoff, who has accused Santos of filching money raised to save his dog.

The progressive congressman Ro Khanna of California argued the Biden administration still has options to offer relief to student borrowers, even after the supreme court struck down the president’s debt forgiveness program.

As of now, student loan payments are set to resume in September, after a three-year pause precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve got to figure out how to at least pause the student loan repayment in September, until we make good on our promise to forgive student loans,” Khanna said. “We can’t forsake young people who are relying on the president’s policy.”

Khanna went on to say that Biden should consider invoking the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel some student debt. The Biden administration relied on the Heroes Act of 2003 to defend its debt cancelation program, but the court rejected the legal basis for that argument.

Asked whether the White House seems open to those proposals, Khanna replied, “They have engaged in a constructive conversation with those of us in the progressive caucus, but we’ve made it clear: there is no other option. The students who have been promised this forgiveness cannot be repaying student loans in September. That would be a punch to the gut of millions of young Americans across this country.”

Meanwhile, demonstrators have gathered in front of the supreme court building in Washington to protest the court’s decision. The Guardian’s L?onie Chao-Fong is there and will send a dispatch.

For the second time in two days, Joe Biden will make remarks at the White House in response to decisions by the conservative-controlled US supreme court.

The US president is due to step up to the mike at the White House at 3.30pm ET and make comments on this morning’s court ruling against the legality of his $430bn program to offer student debt relief to up to 40 million Americans.

The White House will speak in the Roosevelt Room. He is expected to talk about options for taking alternative action to relief the loan burden.

These are likely to be brief remarks as, scheduled for 3.45pm is the press briefing by the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who will be accompanied by the secretary of education, Miguel Cardona, and the deputy director of the National Economic Council, Bharat Ramamurti.

Yesterday, speaking from the White House to slam the court’s striking down of affirmative action in US higher education, Biden answered one question called out as he left, following brief remarks. In response to being asked if the justices now represented a “rogue court” he responded: “This is not a normal court.”

Progressive congressman Ro Khanna of California denounced the supreme court’s decision to scrap Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan, in an interview with the Guardian this morning.

Khanna pointed to the decision as another example of how the “out of touch” court is worsening Americans’ everyday lives.

“It’s a court that is regressive, that is rolling back women’s rights, rolling back rights about racial equality, rolling back environmental protections, rolling back now assistance for young people,” Khanna said. “And it’s exactly why we need term limits on these supreme court justices.”

Khanna has previously demanded term limits for the justices, who serve lifelong terms, but he said the most recent series of hard-right decisions from the court underscore the urgent need to enact the policy.

“Many of these people couldn’t win elections for dogcatcher,” Khanna said. “That’s why we need term limits.”

The supreme court’s conservative majority blocked Joe Biden‘s plan to relieve some federal student loan debt from borrowers, and also ruled against a Colorado law the protected LGBTQ+ people from discrimination by businesses. Democrats have decried the twin rulings, saying they are further proof that the court has been captured by rightwing Republicans. While many in the GOP are hailing the apparent end of the president’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in federal student loans, they are comparatively quiet about the blow struck by the six conservative justices against LGBTQ+ protections. As for Biden, we’ll hear more from him at a to-be-announced time this afternoon, where he says he will speak about the ruling against the loan program.

Here’s what else has happened so far today:

The supreme court agreed to next term take up a case that could give the conservatives a chance to further erode gun control laws.

Indiana’s highest court has allowed its near-total abortion ban to go into effect, a year after the supreme court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade.

Together with its decision yesterday ending affirmative action, the just-concluded term was another where the supreme court’s conservatives flexed their muscles.

Joe Biden is accusing the Republicans who led the successful effort to block his plan to cancel some federal student loan debt of “stunning” hypocrisy, and vowed to keep fighting to help more Americans afford college degrees.

“The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning,” the president said in a newly released statement.

“They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses – including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.”

“I believe that the court’s decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong. But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American,” the president said.

Promising “the fight is not over,” Biden said: “Later today, I will provide more detail on all that my administration has done to help students and the next steps my administration will take.”

The president’s full statement is here.

Joe Biden has called the supreme court’s ruling against his student loan cancellation plan “unthinkable”, and announced he will speak on the issue this afternoon:

After releasing the final decisions of its term today, the supreme court also announced some of the cases it would consider in its next term, including one with significant implications for gun control nationwide.

The court will consider whether a federal law that takes guns away from people who are under a domestic violence restraining order is constitutional. While they are always capable of surprises, recall that last year the six-justice conservative majority handed down a decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen that greatly expanded the ability of Americans to carry concealed weapons.

As Eric Ruben, an assistant professor at Southern Methodist University’s law school writes, the new case, United States v Rahimi, gives the conservatives an opportunity to strike another blow against gun control:

Joe Biden has released a statement expressing his fears that the supreme court’s conservatives may fuel discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender Americans nationwide by striking down a Colorado law prohibiting businesses from turning away LGBTQ+ people.

The president said:

In America, no person should face discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love. The supreme court’s disappointing decision in 303 Creative LLC v Elenis undermines that basic truth, and painfully it comes during Pride month when millions of Americans across the country join together to celebrate the contributions, resilience, and strength of the LGBTQI+ community. While the court’s decision only addresses expressive original designs, I’m deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans. More broadly, today’s decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations – including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.

Biden vowed that his administration “will also work with states across the country to fight back against attempts to roll back civil rights protections that could follow this ruling.”

You can read the full statement here.

It’s been a tough day for Democrats and their policies at the supreme court, and they’re letting their voters know it, with the party’s leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers alike speaking out against the justices’ decisions curbing LGBTQ+ protections, and stopping Joe Biden from relieving some student loan debt.

But as CNN points out, while plenty of Republicans are cheering the student loan decisions, but few have anything to say about the court’s decision against a Colorado law intended to stop businesses from discriminating against gay people:

Democrats have no such qualms. In a statement, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries described the court’s decision in the Colorado case as a step backwards:

Today’s extreme, rightwing supreme court ruling invites a return to a time when businesses were empowered to turn people away simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe that when a business opens its doors, those doors should be open to all. Unfortunately, the extremists on the supreme court are more interested in jamming their rightwing ideology down the throats of the American people than promoting fundamental fairness.

No person or business should be given a license to discriminate. That is exactly what today’s wrongheaded supreme court decision will unleash. Every individual, no matter who they are or who they love, deserves the freedom to go about their daily lives and access the goods and services they need without fear or discrimination. House Democrats will continue to stand with the LGBTQ+ community until liberty and justice for all prevails and the Equality Act is the law of the land.

A year after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade and allowed states to completely prohibit abortion, Indiana’s highest court has allowed its abortion ban to go into effect, Indiana Public Broadcasting reports:

Indiana was the first state in the nation to pass an abortion ban after the end of Roe v Wade, but its supreme court blocked the measure passed by the Republican-dominated legislature later in 2022.

As the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell has played a major role in creating the court’s current conservative majority.

He famously stopped Barack Obama from filing a vacancy on the court with one of his nominees, then presided over the confirmation of three of Donald Trump‘s justices – all of whom gave their support to the court’s decisions overturning Roe v Wade, affirmative action and, today, blocking Joe Biden‘s student debt relief plan.

McConnell is of course happy with that most recent decision. Here’s what he has to say:

The American people know that the Biden administration’s student loan socialism plan would be a raw deal for hardworking taxpayers. Now that the supreme court has rejected the administration’s position in Biden v Nebraska, they can know that it’s illegal.

The president of the United States cannot hijack 20-year-old emergency powers to pad the pockets of his high-earning base and make suckers out of working families who choose not to take on student debt. The court’s decision today deals a heavy blow to Democrats’ distorted and outsized view of executive power.

The Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren is a longtime advocate for cancelling student loan debt.

Here’s what she had to say about the supreme court’s ruling against Joe Biden‘s attempt to partially do so: