On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze explains what the court’s decision means to strike down President Joe Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan. Plus, he looks at a decision surrounding a web designer who didn’t want to create same-sex wedding sites. Plus a State Department review criticizes the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the first flying car has been approved by the FAA. Then ESPN rolls out major layoffs. And finally, Alan Arkin is dead at 89.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I’m Taylor Wilson, and this is Five Things You Need To Know, Saturday, the 1st of July 2023. Today, a look at what’s next for student loan forgiveness, after a monumental Supreme Court decision. Plus a State Department review criticizes the withdrawal from Afghanistan. And we remember Alan Arkin. It was a busy Friday on the Supreme Court. The court struck down President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt. And in a separate decision, the court sided with a web designer who wants to decline to create websites for same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs. I caught up with USA Today Supreme Court correspondent, John Fritze, to discuss both of them. Howdy John.
John Fritze:
Hey.
Taylor Wilson:
So the Supreme Court has struck down Biden’s plan to wipe out student loan debt. What exactly did the court decide here, John?
John Fritze:
You know, this case really came down to three words, “Waive or modify.” The federal law that the Biden administration tried to use to do this said that the Secretary of Education had authority to waive or modify the terms of student loans. What the Supreme Court said in a 6-3 ruling is that, “Look, that doesn’t mean you can completely wipe away $400 billion in student loan debt relief.” This is part of a series of cases where the Supreme Court has basically cabined the ability of a president to act unilaterally. What the Supreme Court has said in case after case, and we’ve seen this in the eviction moratorium, we saw it in the COVID vaccine mandate case, we’ve seen it in several environmental cases, is if Congress hasn’t said that you have the authority explicitly to do what you want to do, then you don’t have the authority and you’re out of luck.
Taylor Wilson:
And so John, how did the court’s Liberal wing argue against this in the dissent?
John Fritze:
What the Liberal wing argues is that sometimes Congress leaves things unspecific, particularly in a case like this where the administration was lying on a provision of law that dealt specifically with emergencies. Congress can’t possibly anticipate every emergency. It can’t possibly anticipate every authority that a White House is going to want to execute during a global pandemic. And so what the Liberal wing would say is that occasionally the court leaves things vague and when it does so, it does so on purpose. It does so with the understanding or recognition that, Secretary of Education in this case, will potentially use that to find things that aren’t explicitly in the law. So they’re very much opposed to this whole doctrine that the Conservative majority is coming up with that says that administrations can’t do this.
But one just final point on this, I mean this is part of a much broader push by Conservatives that has been going on for many decades to weaken what they view as the quote, unquote administrative state. And they feel that these federal agencies are just going hog wild and doing things that really they have no authority to do in a system of government where Congress makes the laws, not the White House.
Taylor Wilson:
And John, president Joe Biden yesterday revealed a new path for student loan forgiveness after this decision. What’s this plan look like and what’s next for borrowers hoping to get some relief here?
John Fritze:
Yeah, so what Biden announced yesterday was that they’re going to look at this other law, that gives them some authority to forgive or change the terms of a student loan. I think that even the plaintiffs in the case recognize that the administration has potentially the authority to do this. The thing that nobody is saying, or the reason why the Biden administration didn’t rely on this law in the first place is that it has to go through a regular process, a regulation. And that is a process that involves notice and comment and meetings and it may take years. The reason why Biden never wanted to execute through this other law was that it might not get done by the time of the 2024 Presidential Election. And so I think this is what they’re going to argue for. And many on the left feel they should have gone this route in the first place. Whether he can actually get this done by the election is anybody’s guess, and I guarantee you, when they do it, it will spur additional litigation.
Taylor Wilson:
And John, in another decision, the court backed a web designer who wants to decline to create websites for same-sex weddings. What’s the context around this case and what ramifications could this have?
John Fritze:
The Supreme Court handed down, as everybody knows, a major decision in 2015 that legalized same-sex marriage and ever since then there have been a number of challenges trying to understand what the bounds of that legalization are, and this is the latest outcropping. Your listeners may remember, there was a huge case involving a cake baker in Colorado a few years back, and he declined to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. The Supreme Court cited with the baker in that case, but on very narrow grounds that were specific only to the baker. So Lorie Smith, the website designer from that same state of Colorado, came up to the court with a claim that a Colorado law that barred her from turning away same-sex clients, was inconsistent with the First Amendment. And here’s why. Lorie Smith argues that by forcing her to make websites for same-sex marriage, that would be a representation of her speech. And the First Amendment bars the government from compelling people to say things that they don’t agree with or saying things really at all.
You know, what’s interesting is that this case, the religion component was technically removed from it. The court said they weren’t going to hear the religious parts of it. It was purely a free speech case. But this is a court that has cited with religious interests pretty much a hundred percent of the time over the past several years. This decision wasn’t a surprise, but it’s a huge loss for the LGBTQ community. I think there’s some question about just how widespread this impact is, because most businesses are not trading in First Amendment products. In other words, most businesses don’t sell something that represents speech. And so what this may open up is additional litigation about exactly what those businesses are that are purveying something that involves speech.
Taylor Wilson:
John Fritze with us after a big week on the Supreme Court. Thanks, John.
John Fritze:
Thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
A State Department review out yesterday found that the Biden and Trump administrations did not sufficiently plan for worst case scenarios ahead of the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The report gave strong criticism of the withdrawal, which resulted in the rapid fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the Afghan government. The report recommends that the State Department enhance its crisis planning, clarify its leadership structure during crises, and make sure that senior officials hear the broadest possible range of views.
The chaos during the evacuation of Kabul included a terrorist bombing attack that killed more than 150 Afghan citizens and 13 US service members. The US shortly after, also killed 10 Afghan civilians in a drone strike, it called a mistake. The withdrawal itself led to the quick evacuation of more than 100,000 American and Afghan citizens, but the US also abandoned thousands of other Afghan citizens who supported the US government during its two decade war in the country. In its report, the State Department highlighted a number of issues, including that the department’s ability to participate in the process was hindered because it was not clear who in the department had the lead. You can read more with the link in today’s show notes.
ESPN rolled out a wave of layoffs yesterday impacting a number of high profile on-air personalities. According to the New York Post, the network is letting go of top NBA game analyst, Jeff Van Gundy, and NBA studio analyst Jalen Rose. NFL reporter, Todd McShay, is also out, as is anchor, Susie Kolber, who spent 27 years at the network. The moves come as part of parent company, Disney’s cost-cutting measures to slash spending by five and a half billion dollars worldwide.
The first flying car has been approved. Alef Aeronautics’ flying car called Model A, was granted legal permission by the Federal Aviation Administration yesterday to test run the vehicle on the road and in the sky. It’s the first company to receive a special airworthiness certification from the FAA. The certificate limits the locations and purpose for which the vehicle is allowed to fly. The vehicle will also need to meet National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration safety standards before taking flight. It’s not clear if consumers will immediately latch on and create a Jetsons or Back to the Future type world, but the vehicle is already available for pre-order and will sell for around $300,000. It’s expected sometime in 2025.
Alan Arkin has died. The actor was nominated for an Academy Award four times, twice in the sixties and twice in the two-thousands when he finally won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. He’s also just one of a handful of actors to get a Best Actor nom for their first film. That was the 1966 comedy, The Russians Are Coming. Still, he told USA Today in 2013, quote, “I think it’s all nonsense. The whole thing’s a crapshoot. If I look at the movies that won Best Movie over the last 50 years, 20 are ridiculous jokes.”, unquote. Alan Arkin was 89. And before we go, did you know that Five Things is now on YouTube? A limited number of our specials and Sunday episodes will now be available as vodcasts. We have a link in today’s show notes. And thanks for listening to Five Things. Shannon Rae Green is in for the Sunday episode tomorrow and I’ll see you Monday with more of Five Things from USA Today.