United States Ninth Circuit

In a bankruptcy case involving the dischargeability of a debtor's student loan obligation to the government, a judgment for the U.S. Department of Education is affirmed as: 1) the district court correctly ruled that debtor's student loans are governed by a retroactive 1998 Amendment to 11 U.S.C. section 523(a)(8)(A) which eliminated the dischargeability of his loan; 2) through its power to legislate on bankruptcies, Congress has the power to impair contractual obligations, even retroactively; 3) debtor's claim to an absolute right to a discharge in bankruptcy is rejected; and 4) debtor has not been deprived of a property interest.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/05/2007
• Published 11/05/2007

Judges

• BETTY B. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:, Before:  B. FLETCHER, ANDREW J. KLEINFELD, and RONALD M. GOULD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• D. Bernard Zaleha, Attorney at Law, Boise, ID, for the plaintiff-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Amy S. Howe, Assistant United States Attorney, Boise, ID, for the defendant-appellee.