Department of Education v. Career Colleges and Schools of Texas

The Secretary's challenged authority to impose gainful employment metrics rests on the HEA's grant of power to set "standards for institutions' continued eligibility" for federal aid—the question is whether that language permits conditioning aid on graduate earnings thresholds or whether it is limited to institutional capacity and integrity measures. Under Loper Bright's new framework, the Court must determine the best reading of the statute without deference to DOE's interpretation, requiring clear congressional authorization for this expansive policy. The major questions doctrine applies because the regulation's economic reach—affecting thousands of for-profit schools and millions in federal aid—is vast and politically significant, demanding explicit statutory language to justify such consequential conditions on aid eligibility. The Fifth Circuit's vacation suggested the statute does not clearly grant DOE such broad discretion to impose earnings-based requirements, and SCOTUS must now determine whether the HEA, properly read, authorizes this form of institutional regulation or whether it exceeds the Secretary's delegated power.