If you werenāt already super psyched for the Big Beautiful Bill borrowing caps making law school unaffordable for many, get ready to learn that most lawyerly public service is no longer getting loan forgiveness. Because public service itself is going to āillegal.ā
The Trump administrationās ongoing war on the legal profession continues with the Department of Education releasing its finalized Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule ā a process kicked off in March when Trump issued his Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness Executive Order ā and while its impact will be felt across education, the new rule is especially brutal for law school graduates, with the DOE cutting off forgiveness to those causes it deems to be supporting āillegal activity.ā And, if you hadnāt already guessed what it means to support āillegalā activity in this regime, they mean jobs like ārepresenting immigrantsā and āadvocating for transgender rights.ā
Wouldnāt this also include any form of defense law? Sounds like you wouldnāt even be able to represent anyone in court who is being accused of āillegal activityā, without losing your loan forgiveness.
This is the point - authoritarian regimes make absurd laws that are vague and impossible to follow, so that prosecution can be fully politically-selective.
They will decide after the fact, without any objective standard, if your legal conduct is āillegalā for loan forgiveness purposes. (Maybe also criminal charges purposes, but I think theyāre saving that for next year after we all get used to this step.)
Except this isnāt even a law.
It wasnāt passed or voted on by Congress.
It is a guideline, from the Dept. of Education.
Soā¦ yeah thatās not a law, and thusā¦ nothing can be said to be āillegalā when not in compliance with it.
Had we a functioning government and legal system, that was not headed by a Supreme court that lols at the idea that precedent mattersā¦ well you could probably argue that this rule is itself illegal, unconstitutional.
But, alas, the law and order President actually just means that the law is whatever he says it is, soā¦ moot point.
Yes, loose phrasing on my part. But agree completely.
Well, thats whole thing with laws and lawyers, its a knowledge set and way of thinking thatā¦ largely, essentially simply is a highly specialized form of pedantry, lol.