MACKINAC CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY; CATO INSTITUTE v. MIGUEL CARDONA, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, in his official capacity; RICHARD CORDRAY, Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education, in his official capacity; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - Articles

All Content

MACKINAC CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY; CATO INSTITUTE v. MIGUEL CARDONA, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, in his official capacity; RICHARD CORDRAY, Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education, in his official capacity; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Posted by: Karen Belcher on May 17, 2024

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Sheng Li, NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE, Washington, D.C., for Appellants.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: Thomas Pulham, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: Sheng Li, NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE, Washington, D.C., for Appellants.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: Thomas Pulham, Michael S. Raab, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

Attorneys 5: ON BRIEF: Seth E. Mermin, David S. Nahmias, U.C. BERKELEY CENTER FOR CONSUMER LAW & ECONOMIC JUSTICE, Berkeley, California, PERSIS S. Yu, R. T. Winston Berkman-Breen, STUDENT BORROWER PROTECTION CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae.

Judge(s): SILER, COLE, and MATHIS, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Bay City

MATHIS, Circuit Judge. Many people consider a college education the ticket to the American dream. Some take out student loans to get the ticket. Paying back those loans can turn into a nightmare. Congress and the U.S. Department of Education stepped in to help by creating income-driven student-loan repayment plans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Various problems arose with these plans, including student-loan servicers steering borrowers into postponing or reducing their student-loan payments for extended periods of time. In response, the Department of Education announced, in April 2022 and July 2023, a one-time account adjustment that would count months or years that borrowers spent in excessive forbearance status toward debt forgiveness. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Cato Institute did not take kindly to the Department of Education’s action, so they sued to stop it. The question presented is whether Plaintiffs’ complaint sufficiently alleged that they suffered an injury in fact resulting from the adjustment based on competitor standing and deprivation of a procedural right. We hold that it does not. We thus affirm the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

Attachments: