When district courts issued national injunctions on executive orders from the Trump administration, conservatives were rightfully incensed. The executive order on immigration that the media erroneously dubbed the “Muslim ban” was the first act from the bureaucratic anti-Trump deep state that would hamstring the Trump administration until 2021.
How can these little courts give such wide-ranging opinions that block constitutional orders from being carried out? There were even discussions about preventing lower courts from having the power to issue such rulings. The Trump administration decided to do one better: fill the numerous vacancies at the lower court level to end these legal logjams. It took some time, but eventually, the Left and their legal allies knew there would be no hope in any new national injunctions. Before that, it was always a back-and-forth at the lower court level, with the final judgment being rendered by the Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of the Trump White House’s orders.
With Joe Biden’s student loan bailout, lingering separation of powers questions are present. It’s like the ongoing drama regarding the legal status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program under Obama. Is the executive bypassing Congress with both programs? Justice Amy Coney Barrett refused to intervene in blocking Biden’s student loan program, but the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals had no problem blocking it (via Politico):
A federal appeals court has temporarily stopped the Biden administration from moving ahead with a plan to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars of federal student loan debt.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued an order that prohibits the Biden administration from “discharging any student loan debt” under the relief program until it rules on an emergency request by Republican-led states to block the policy.
The Biden administration had previously said in court filings it could begin canceling student loans as early as this Sunday.
Yet, let’s be prepared for disappointment in the same fashion as DACA, where the courts seem to have taken the position that a new White House cannot rescind executive orders issued by the previous administration.