If you weren’t 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 ā€œillegal.ā€

The Trump administration’s ongoing war on the legal profession continues with the Department of Education releasing its finalized Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule — a process kicked off in March when Trump issued his Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness Executive Order — 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 ā€œillegal activity.ā€ And, if you hadn’t already guessed what it means to support ā€œillegalā€ activity in this regime, they mean jobs like ā€œrepresenting immigrantsā€ and ā€œadvocating for transgender rights.ā€