In a 6-3 ruling on the final day of its 2022-23 term, the court said a federal law allowing the government to "waive or modify" other laws in order to protect student debtors did not authorize the debt cancellation. "The authority to 'modify' statutes and regulations allows the Secretary (of Education) to make modest adjustments and additions to existing provisions, not transform them," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, joined by the court's other conservatives.