Supreme Court's Student Loan Decision Will Exacerbate Racial Inequality

NEW YORK (June 30, 20202) -- National Urban League President Marc H. Morial issued the following statement today in response to the Supreme Court's decision on student loan relief:

“In striking down President Biden’s student loan relief plan, the Supreme Court has delivered a second devastating blow in as many days to the movement for racial justice and set the stage for further destabilization of the nation’s economy. 

“The Court’s decision in Biden v. Nebraska is, incredibly, even more nakedly political than their decisions to strike down affirmative action.  President Biden’s plan not only is overwhelmingly favored by the American people, it would invigorate the national economy. That’s a political problem for the President’s adversaries, but not a constitutional one. Furthermore, one of the justices who voted with the majority accepted lavish gifts from the chairman of a group that asked the court to block the plan 

“Crushing student loan debt is a key driver of the racial wealth and opportunity gap.  It has created a vicious cycle that forces the most vulnerable students to take on disproportionate financial risk to pursue a higher education, only to find themselves even further behind.  

“History will remember this week as a low point for the nation’s highest court. The National Urban League will continue to seek justice for Americans who are trapped by our nation’s unjust system of financing higher education.”