Biden, Harris overstep on student loans, Title IX. Be glad courts are pumping the brakes.

Not to rub it in, but President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are real losers.

In court, anyway.

The Biden-Harris administration has lost big in recent weeks on some of its signature “accomplishments.”

On both the sweeping Title IX rewrite that makes major changes in regard to gender identity and with Biden’s latest student loan cancellation plan, the courts keep putting the brakes on these executive overreaches.

What’s most telling is the reaction from the administration. Rather than acknowledge they have overstepped, Biden and Harris just continue to plow forward.

To them, the outcome justifies their actions, even if they are blatantly unconstitutional.

That belies Democrats’ portrayal of themselves as the defenders of democracy. By unilaterally creating such sweeping – and costly – policies without going through Congress, Biden and Harris are clearly stepping all over the separation of powers.

Another blow to student loan freebies

Let’s take a look at the latest examples.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused an emergency request from the Biden administration to lift a nationwide injunction on its broad income-driven student loan repayment (SAVE) plan that took effect last year. No justice dissented for the record, not even those among the court's progressive wing.

This was Biden’s alternative to loan cancellation, introduced shortly after the high court shot down his unconstitutional plan to wipe out student debt without Congress' approval.

Biden bungles student loans: Biden and Harris keep making promises they know are a scam

As we get closer to the presidential election, Biden and Harris have doubled down on their cancellation promises, blatantly trying to use hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars as a campaign ploy to get votes.

The court battle, which began this summer with two federal judges appointed by former President Barack Obama ruling against Biden, puts a wrench in their efforts by halting any additional loan forgiveness (or easing) while the matter works its way through the lower courts.

This is all very confusing for borrowers, who’ve been on quite the rollercoaster the past few years thanks to Biden and Harris.

It’s also costly and unfair to those of us who didn’t go to college or who worked hard to pay our debts.

Swapping sex for gender identity is a step too far

Separately, the Supreme Court last month also refused to lift a preliminary injunction that’s preventing 26 states from having to implement Biden and Harris’ rewrite of Title IX, which was finalized in April and set to take effect Aug. 1.

That is a huge blow to the administration, as it wanted colleges and schools to implement the new rule in the 2024-25 year. Now, it will have to wait for the different lawsuits to work their way through the lower courts.

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Expanding transgender rights has been central to Biden’s presidency, and his new Title IX rule that changed the definition of “sex” to include “gender identity” sought to force schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice.

It also broadened its definition of harassment, which runs into free speech concerns.

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This week, the Independent Women’s Law Center, along with several other women’s groups, filed an amicus brief in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to prevent the Title IX rewrite from taking effect in Ohio, Tennessee and other states.

The brief states that the Biden-Harris administration’s “demand that schools provide locker-room access in accordance with gender identity ignores … biological realities and, in the process, violates Title IX’s unmistakable and longstanding requirement to account for the ‘unique facet(s)’ of the sexes.”

It’s one thing for Biden and Harris to advocate for gender identity and student loan forgiveness. It’s another matter altogether, however, that they have refused to go through Congress and tried to do major policy changes on their own.

That should concern us all.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden, Harris abuse power on student loans – and lose because of it