So much for social security being a necessary safety net.
Disclaimer: I do not like the SS program, it needs to be scrapped.
Court: Feds can take Social Security
A person's benefits can pay off old student loans
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the government can seize a person's Social Security benefits to pay old student loans.
Retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the decision that went against a disabled man, James Lockhart, who contends he needs all of his $874 monthly check to pay for food and medication.
His government benefits had been cut by 15 percent to cover debts he incurred for college in the 1980s.
Lockhart also lost at the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said that Congress had eliminated a 10-year time limit on the government's right to seek repayment on defaulted student loans by seizing payments, including Social Security, to individuals.
The Bush administration had maintained that the case was important because outstanding student loans total about $33 billion, which includes about $7 billion in delinquent debt. Of the delinquent loans, about half are over 10 years old, government lawyers have said.
Justices were called on to clarify federal laws that sent conflicting messages about the collection of loans that are more than a decade old.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said that Congress "unambiguously authorized, without exception, the collection of 10-year-old student loan debt ... in doing so, it flatly contracted and thereby effectively repealed part of the Social Security Act."
He complained that Congress often passes laws and says they cannot be overridden later.
"I think it does no favor to the members of Congress, and to those who assist in drafting their legislation, to keep secret the fact that such express-reference provisions are ineffective," Scalia wrote.
O'Connor's ruling will likely be one of her last. She is retiring after 24 years.
Also Wednesday, new Chief Justice John Roberts announced his first ruling, in a case involving legal fees.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/07/scotus.studentloans.ap/index.html
Disclaimer: I do not like the SS program, it needs to be scrapped.
Court: Feds can take Social Security
A person's benefits can pay off old student loans
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the government can seize a person's Social Security benefits to pay old student loans.
Retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the decision that went against a disabled man, James Lockhart, who contends he needs all of his $874 monthly check to pay for food and medication.
His government benefits had been cut by 15 percent to cover debts he incurred for college in the 1980s.
Lockhart also lost at the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said that Congress had eliminated a 10-year time limit on the government's right to seek repayment on defaulted student loans by seizing payments, including Social Security, to individuals.
The Bush administration had maintained that the case was important because outstanding student loans total about $33 billion, which includes about $7 billion in delinquent debt. Of the delinquent loans, about half are over 10 years old, government lawyers have said.
Justices were called on to clarify federal laws that sent conflicting messages about the collection of loans that are more than a decade old.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said that Congress "unambiguously authorized, without exception, the collection of 10-year-old student loan debt ... in doing so, it flatly contracted and thereby effectively repealed part of the Social Security Act."
He complained that Congress often passes laws and says they cannot be overridden later.
"I think it does no favor to the members of Congress, and to those who assist in drafting their legislation, to keep secret the fact that such express-reference provisions are ineffective," Scalia wrote.
O'Connor's ruling will likely be one of her last. She is retiring after 24 years.
Also Wednesday, new Chief Justice John Roberts announced his first ruling, in a case involving legal fees.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/07/scotus.studentloans.ap/index.html
