What is the HEROES Act?

Lawyers for the Biden administration told the Supreme Court that it could cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt because Congress had given it that authority in the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, which is usually called the HEROES Act.

A version of the law enacted in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks gave the secretary of education the power to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory…