The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in two challenges to the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, which could give tens of millions of federal borrowers up to $20,000 of relief. Several conservative justices expressed skepticism over the plan, while liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the Republican states that brought one of the lawsuits, arguing 50 million students will suffer if the program is rescinded, and that the Education Department should be making decisions about how to handle their debt rather than judges. Activists gathered outside the court. This is Maddy Clifford of the Debt Collective.

Maddy Clifford: “These lawsuits are bogus, literally backed by right-wing billionaires. Look it up. Rich people who have happily accepted government handouts in the form of having their PPP loans forgiven or receiving government subsidies — does the government work for them, or does it work for us? That’s my question. OK? So, if you ask me now what it feels like to be $120,000 in student loan debt, I say it feels like solidarity. It feels like power. If one person owes the bank, that’s that one person’s problem. But when a million people owe the bank, that’s the bank’s problem.”