WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is expected to announce major decisions Friday on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program and a case that impacts gay rights. It’s the court’s final day before the justices go on their summer break.
Already this week the justices have released important decisions on other issues including affirmative action, voting rights and religious rights. The court’s final opinions tend to be on some of the most contentious issues because writing those decisions often takes the longest.
Here’s a look at the decisions the justices issued this week and those left to come:
STUDENT LOANS
The justices have yet to decide the fate of President Joe Biden’s plan to wipe away or reduce student loans held by millions of Americans. When the court heard arguments in the case in February, the plan didn’t seem likely to survive, though it’s possible the justices could decide the challengers lacked the right to sue and the plan can still go forward.
Biden had proposed erasing $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those with incomes below $125,000 a year, or households that earn less than $250,000. He also wanted to cancel an additional $10,000 for those who received federal Pell Grants to attend college. The administration has said millions of borrowers would benefit from the program.
Regardless of what happens at the high court, loan payments that have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago will resume this summer.
GAY RIGHTS
A clash of gay rights and religious rights is also still to be decided by the court. The case involves a Christian graphic artist from Colorado who wants to begin designing wedding websites but objects to making wedding websites for same-sex couples.
State law requires businesses that are open to the public to provide services to all customers, but the designer, Lorie Smith, says the law violates her free speech rights. She says ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their beliefs. Her opponents, meanwhile, say that if she wins, a range of businesses will be able to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants.
During arguments in the case in December, the court’s conservative majority sounded sympathetic to Smith’s arguments, and religious plaintiffs have in recent years won a series of victories at the high court.