Conservative Supreme Court justices target the fairness of Biden's student-loan forgiveness and executive overreach in their first round of questioning

• Oral arguments on Biden's student-loan forgiveness are underway at the Supreme Court.
• Several conservative justices questioned whether the plan was an overreach of executive authority.
• Justice Gorsuch also asked Biden's team to address how the relief is fair to those who already paid off their loans.

Student-loan forgiveness arguments at the Supreme Court are officially underway, and conservative justices kicked it off with questions about the relief's fairness, and whether President Joe Biden demonstrated executive overreach.

On Tuesday, the two cases that temporarily paused Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt arrived at the Supreme Court. The first case the conservative-majority court took on was filed by six Republican-led states, who argued the debt relief would hurt their states' tax revenues, and the revenue of student-loan company MOHELA.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing Biden's administration, took the first round of questions from the justices, and she defended Biden's use of the HEROES Act of 2003 to cancel student debt. The law gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, like COVID-19.

Chief Justice John Roberts questioned the use of that law to cancel such a large scale of student debt for borrowers, asking: "We're talking about half a trillion dollars and 43 million Americans. How does that fit under the normal definition of 'modify'?"

He said that "modify" typically means "moderate change," and he questioned whether the language can also be used for broad student-loan forgiveness without Congressional approval.

Prelogar pushed back on Roberts' questioning, saying that it shouldn't be surprising to lawmakers that Biden would use this relief to remedy harm the pandemic has caused borrowers. When it came to whether Biden overstepped his authority with this relief, Roberts said that "we take very seriously the idea of separation of powers and that power should be divided to prevent its abuse," and Prelogar maintained that Biden is doing what is necessary to protect borrowers who suffered financial harm.

Additionally, a common critique of student-loan forgiveness from Republican lawmakers and conservative groups is that the relief is unfair to those who did not take on any student loans, or who already paid them. Justice Neil Gorsuch addressed that argument, asking Prelogar: "What are costs to other persons in terms of fairness, people who've paid their loans, who plan their lives around not seeking loans, people not eligible for loans in the first place?"

Prelogar noted that the plan is tailored to borrowers who would need it the most, and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona specifically designed the plan in that sense.

This story is breaking and will be updated.