The Latest from the Prospect
 â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
Â
View this email in your browser
<[link removed]>
**FEBRUARY 27, 2023**
Kuttner on TAP
****
****
****
****
****
****
****
**** How Far Will the Supreme Court Go?
Consider two pending cases, on Biden's student debt relief plan and
the CFPB.
We will soon find out whether the Supreme Court's successive lurches
toward far-right dogmatism are becoming even more outlandish and
transparently opportunist. Tomorrow, the high court will hear oral
arguments on President Biden's plan to cancel up to $10,000 in debt
<[link removed]>
for those with incomes below $125,000, with extra relief for those who
received Pell grants.
It's a great way of targeting debt relief. But Republican state
officials sued last October to block the plan, as the
**Prospect** has reported
<[link removed]>.
The immediate issue before the Court is whether the plaintiffs have
standing, since their contention is that they would be harmed by the
relief program. How would they be harmed? The individual litigants claim
that while others will get relief, they won't. That is supposed to
count as harm. And the state officials contend that they have standing
because the federal government provides other forms of state aid.
To say that these are far-fetched arguments is an understatement. Yet
this case is before the Supreme Court because lower courts packed with
Trump appointees have blocked Biden from proceeding. With this Court,
almost any invention is possible.
Even more ominous is another case where the Court has just agreed to
review a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that would put the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau out of business on the grounds that
its funding mechanism is an unconstitutional violation of the separation
of powers. The sponsors of the CFPB, which was part of the Dodd-Frank
Act, deliberately put its funding inside the Federal Reserve (which
doesn't rely on annual appropriations) to give it some political
insulation.
If the high court were to find this brand of agency funding
unconstitutional, it could shutter not only the CFPB, but several other
agencies with independent funding, including Social Security, Medicare,
and the Federal Reserve itself, as well as financial agencies such as
the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC.
In short, a ruling in this case upholding the Fifth Circuit finding
could wreck a good chunk of the administrative state-a long-standing
goal of the far right. Would this Supreme Court really do that? I'd
put nothing past it.
Should the Democrats take back the House, the idea of expanding the
Court looks more and more reasonable.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. <[link removed]>
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter <[link removed]>
[link removed]
The Junk Fees Biden Hasn't Talked About
<[link removed]>
Hidden and deceptive fees are seen across consumer transactions, from
rental housing to prisons. BY DAVID DAYEN
West Virginia Wanders Away From Coal
<[link removed]>
Some coal defenders amp up culture war as others welcome nuclear and
batteries. BY LEE HARRIS
Private Health Care Companies Are Eating the American Economy
<[link removed]>
A new report from Wendell Potter at the Center for Health and Democracy
examines just how the private insurance market makes its money-and how
American health care is worse off for it. BY RAMENDA CYRUS
Tales From the Black Power Movement
<[link removed]>
One family tells stories about fighting for freedom from Mississippi to
Syria. BY PROSPECT STAFF
Â
[link removed]
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
<[link removed]>
The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States
Copyright (c) 2023 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
<[link removed]>.
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
<[link removed]>.
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
<[link removed]>.
