Morning Distribution for Friday, March 3, 2023

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Morning Distribution]( Friday, March 3, 2023 Your daily briefing from FiveThirtyEight --------------------------------------------------------------- The Morning Story [A graphic of a sign that reads "Cancel student debt."]( [Americans Like Biden’s Student Debt Forgiveness Plan. The Supreme Court … Not So Much.]( By [Alex Samuels]( Welcome to [Pollapalooza]( our weekly polling roundup. --------------------------------------------------------------- During oral arguments this week, the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority [cast a skeptical eye]( on President Biden’s plan to forgive — or at least reduce — [more than 40 million people’s]( student debt, likely imperiling one of the Democrat’s signature policy initiatives. Among the sticking points for the conservative judges, so far, is that Biden lacks the congressional authority needed to provide over $400 billion in student loan forgiveness — a move justified [as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic](. “We take very seriously the idea of separation of powers and that power should be divided to prevent its abuse,” [said]( Chief Justice John Roberts. “This is a case that presents extraordinarily serious, important issues about the role of Congress and about the role that we should exercise in scrutinizing that.” Biden’s student debt plan has plenty of defenders outside the Supreme Court, though. In the lead-up [to Tuesday’s hearing]( a bevy of interest groups and borrowers who would be affected by the decision [penned op-eds]( or [took to the streets]( in an attempt to plead with the court against overturning Biden’s decree. And polls, too, suggest that the public is broadly in favor of student debt-relief programs — at least to some extent. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: Why The Federal Reserve’s Power Is ‘Limitless’]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.