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Everglades College, Inc. v. Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 23-15049 · judgment November 5, 2024


Certiorari denied · February 23, 2026
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Rebuffed by Congress and this Court in its attempts to cancel student-loan debt en masse, the Biden Administration transmogrified a narrow procedural lawsuit into a sweeping class-action settlement that eliminated $7.5 billion in debt and rewrote student-loan regulations without Congressional authorization. Worse still, the government used the settlement to label 150 nonparty educational institutions guilty of “substantial misconduct” without providing those schools notice or an opportunity to be heard. This settlement was an egregious example of “sue and settle”—i.e., “collusion between advocacy groups and executive officials who want to bind the hands of future policymakers.” Horne v. Flores, 557 U.S. 433, 449 (2009). Several schools injured by their surprise inclusion in the settlement intervened in the district court to challenge the settlement’s legality. After the district court rejected those challenges and approved the settlement, the schools appealed. A split panel of the Ninth Circuit—over a dissent from Judge Collins— held that although the schools suffered Article III injury, they lacked so-called “prudential standing” to challenge or appeal the settlement because it did not inflict “formal legal prejudice.” The question presented is: Whether federal courts may impose a judge-made “prudential standing” bar to block non-settling intervenors from redressing Article III injury imposed on them by a government

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jesse Michael Panuccio
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP

For respondent
David Sidney Shaffer Nahmias
Project on Predatory Student Lending

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Linked docket
25A77

Proceedings

  1. Feb 23 2026
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 04 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
  3. Jan 30 2026
    Reply of petitioner Everglades College, Inc. filed.
  4. Jan 21 2026
    Brief of respondents Theresa Sweet, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Jan 21 2026
    Brief of respondents Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education, et al. in opposition filed.
  6. Dec 15 2025
    The motions to extend the time to file responses are granted and the time is further extended to and including January 21, 2026, for all respondents.
  7. Dec 12 2025
    Motion of Theresa Sweet, et al. to extend the time to file a response from December 22, 2025 to January 21, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
  8. Dec 11 2025
    Motion of the Solicitor General to extend the time to file a response from December 22, 2025 to January 21, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Nov 20 2025
    Brief amici curiae of Defense of Freedom Institute, et al. filed.
  10. Nov 12 2025
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 22, 2025, for all respondents.
  11. Nov 07 2025
    Motion of Theresa Sweet, et al. to extend the time to file a response from November 20, 2025 to December 22, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
  12. Oct 29 2025
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 22, 2025.
  13. Oct 27 2025
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 20, 2025 to December 22, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Oct 17 2025
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 20, 2025)
  15. Jul 21 2025
    Application (25A77) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until October 18, 2025.
  16. Jul 17 2025
    Application (25A77) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from August 19, 2025 to October 18, 2025, submitted to Justice Kagan.