Ocasio-Cortez slams Alito for ‘corruption’ over student loan decision

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for alleged “corruption” following the court’s rulings on President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. 

The court struck down the debt relief plan in a 6-3 ruling Friday, with the majority finding that the Biden administration had not received authorization from Congress to issue the thousands of dollars in loan forgiveness for many borrowers. 

Alito has recently faced criticism surrounding an ethical controversy about a flight he took that was paid for by a major Republican donor. Progressives called on Alito to recuse himself from the two cases concerning the loan forgiveness program, as an organization that the donor leads filed an amicus brief supporting the challenges against the program. 

“Justice Alito accepted tens of thousands of dollars in lavish vacation gifts from a billionaire who lobbied to cancel the student loan forgiveness,” Ocasio-Cortez said Friday following the ruling. “After the gifts, Alito voted to overturn. This SCOTUS’ corruption undercuts its own legitimacy by putting its rulings up for sale.” 

Amid ethical controversies surrounding gifts that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted but did not publicly disclose, ProPublica published a report earlier this month that Alito went on a luxury fishing trip in 2008 with Paul Singer, a billionaire hedge fund leader and GOP donor who has had business before the court. 

Alito admitted to accepting a seat on a private jet that Singer paid for and participating in cases in which a subsidiary of Singer’s hedge fund was involved, but he denied any wrongdoing. 

Singer is the chairman of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank that filed a brief along with the Cato Institute in support of the states that were challenging the forgiveness program. Student debt advocates called on Alito to recuse himself from the case as a result. 

Democrats have responded to the ethical controversies surrounding Thomas and Alito by calling for new ethics reforms for the members of the court.

Ocasio-Cortez also argued that the court’s ruling does not take away Biden’s ability to pursue student loan forgiveness. She said Biden could use the Higher Education Act of 1965, which allows the education secretary to waive student loan repayment requirements.

“The Biden Admin can use the HEA (Higher Ed Act) – our position from the start – to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. They should do so ASAP,” the New York lawmaker tweeted.

Biden is set to announce new actions Friday in response to the court’s ruling against his forgiveness program.

Updated: 12:33 p.m.