u/BiglawInvestor

The Court of International Trade ruled today in State of Oregon v. Trump that the President's 10% Section 122 tariff — imposed the same day the Supreme Court struck down his IEEPA tariffs — is unlawful. The 2-1 opinion found that trade deficits and current account deficits aren't 'balance-of-payments deficits' under the statute. Full slip opinion linked.

Used Claude to help organize this summary from the DoE fact sheet. Source document linked above.

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The Department of Education published the final rule today implementing the student loan provisions from the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. Here's what matters:

Loan Limits (effective July 1, 2026)

Grad and Parent PLUS borrowing now has hard caps for the first time:

• Graduate students: $20,500/year, $100,000 aggregate
• Professional students (law, medicine, dentistry, etc.): $50,000/year, $200,000 aggregate
• Parent PLUS: $20,000/year, $65,000 aggregate per dependent
• Everyone hits a $257,500 lifetime cap (Parent PLUS excluded from this number)

If you're already enrolled and have received a loan before July 1, 2026, you get an interim exception — you can keep borrowing under the old limits for up to 3 years or your remaining expected time to credential, whichever is shorter. You lose the exception if you stop enrolling.

Grad PLUS is eliminated for new borrowers who don't qualify for the interim exception.

Repayment Plans — Simplified to Two Options

All existing plans get replaced by:

1. Tiered Standard — Fixed payments over 10–25 years based on balance size. Minimum payment $50/month. This is the only fixed-payment option going forward.
2. Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) — The new income-driven plan. Payments adjust by income and family size. Unpaid interest is waived on timely payments, then principal is reduced by an additional amount (up to $50). Minimum payment $10/month. Married borrowers get prorated payments so spousal income isn't double-counted. RAP payments count toward PSLF.

Existing income-contingent plans sunset July 1, 2028.

Other Changes

• Borrowers can now rehabilitate a defaulted loan twice (up from once), starting July 1, 2027
• Economic hardship and unemployment deferments sunset for loans made on/after July 1, 2027; general forbearance stays (up to 9 months in a 24-month window)
• Schools get new authority to set program-level loan limits
• Part-time students will see reduced annual loan eligibility proportional to enrollment

Professional Student Definition

11 core fields get the higher limits: pharmacy, dentistry, vet med, chiropractic, law (JD/LLB), medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology, and clinical psychology. Other programs can qualify through a multi-part test (doctoral level, 6+ years of coursework, requires licensure, falls within the same CIP code group).