Today was a very big final day in the current SCOTUS session. There were three major outstanding cases that still had yet to be announced, and all three of them dropped like it was Friday and the justices were ready for the weekend (which is likely true).

The case that will have the left losing their minds today is Biden v. Nebraska, which addressed whether the executive branch could use the HEROES Act of 2003 in order to grant student loan debt “relief” across the board. The rationale of that argument was shaky at best, illegal at worst, and the administration knew it, but didn’t care. They had people with college debts to bribe save! There were two cases before SCOTUS regarding this student loan debt “forgiveness” plan – Department of Education v. Brown and Biden v. Nebraska. The Brown case was “vacated and remanded” due to lack of standing (which was always going to be an issue in this case). Biden v. Nebraska, on the other hand, held that the six states that sued DID have standing to challenge, and therefore…

The Supreme Court has blocked the Education Department from canceling up to $20K of student debt owed by tens of millions of Americans, thwarting a major domestic priority of Biden as he campaigns for reelection. https://t.co/wsWZhBOrUT pic.twitter.com/xl3pxw33hJ

— POLITICO (@politico) June 30, 2023

Once it was established that the states had standing, it was all over.

In a 6-3 decision, the conservative majority on the court ruled that Biden’s effort to erase roughly $400 billion of student debt was an illegal use of executive power.”

The decision immediately upends debt relief that the Education Department approved last fall for 16 million borrowers and the pending applications of millions of additional borrowers.”

It also creates fresh political challenges for the White House, which will face pressure from progressives to make good on Biden’s promised loan forgiveness despite the legal setback.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for all his Republican-appointed colleagues, rejected the Biden administration’s argument that it could enact mass debt forgiveness by using emergency “waiver” powers tied to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Roberts wrote that the HEROES Act “allows the Secretary to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions” but not to “rewrite” the federal law on student loans “from the ground up.”

Roberts wrote that Biden’s plan amounts to “the Executive seizing the power of the Legislature” and that it stretches the pandemic-related emergency measure far beyond its logical bounds.”

The Biden administration’s “comprehensive debt cancellation plan cannot fairly be called a waiver — it not only nullifies existing provisions, but augments and expands them dramatically,” Roberts wrote, calling the “economic and political significance” of the move “staggering by any measure.”

The best part? The majority opinion cites… NANCY PELOSI.

SCOTUS quoted Nancy Pelosi in their student loan decision LOL. pic.twitter.com/cO9d9IbHkx

— Isabelle Morales (@IsabelleAliciaa) June 30, 2023

Oh my. The irony is so thick, one could choke on it. Biden is now vowing that he’s going to come up with something else, but expect a LOT of ranting and raving all day – nay, all WEEKEND – about this decision.

The other decision announced today is not getting nearly as much attention as Biden v. Nebraska, but it is equally important. 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis dealt with the case in Colorado of Lorie Smith, who wanted to design wedding websites, but would have been compelled by Colorado law to make them for same-sex weddings. This case had moved up the judicial ladder from Colorado to the Tenth Circuit, and today, SCOTUS held that freedom of speech, association, and religion are guaranteed by the First Amendment.

"The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands. Colorado cannot deny that promise consistent with the First Amendment."

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) June 30, 2023

Justice Gorsuch wrote the decision for this one.

The case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, drew national attention as it featured competing interests of the First Amendment right to free speech and non-discrimination against LGBTQ people.”

The law, known as the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), prohibits businesses providing sales or services to the public from denying services to someone based on their identity. Supporters of CADA claim that the law is necessary to keep businesses from discriminating.”

“Consistent with the First Amendment, the Nation’s answer is tolerance, not coercion,” Gorsuch wrote. “The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands. Colorado cannot deny that promise consistent with the First Amendment.”

Add in the case that was also announced yesterday (though in a much more narrowly tailored decision) in Groff v. DeJoy, where SCOTUS ruled unanimously (so it got almost no media coverage) for religious accommodations, and this is turning out to be one of the most pro-religious freedoms Courts ever.

Federal law bars employers from discriminating against workers for practicing their religion unless the employer can show that the worker’s religious practice cannot “reasonably” be accommodated without “undue hardship.” The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a trivial burden is not the kind of “undue hardship” that will justify an employer’s failure to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs. Instead, the court explained, an employer must accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs unless it can show that doing so would “result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of” the employer’s business.”

Justice Samuel Alito wrote for a unanimous court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a concurring opinion, which was joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.”

One can hope that with the 303 Creative decision today, the case now currently pending against Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop – and the continued harrassment of his business – will finally come to an end.

This is a bad day for the left, and a good day for freedom.

I know these Supreme Court decision have to be hard for much of the left, but I want to comfort you by letting you know your positions on these issues were extremely bad and it is in fact great you lost.

— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) June 30, 2023

Expect the wailing and gnashing of teeth to be quite loud and quite dramatic. Get your popcorn. The Constitution won today.

Featured image via succo on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license