Supreme Court of the United States
Lockhart v. United States
December 7, 2005546 U.S. 142
Summary
The Court held that the Government may offset Social Security benefits to collect a student loan debt that has been outstanding for over 10 years, because the Higher Education Technical Amendments eliminated the applicable time limit. The Court rejected the argument that the general Debt Collection Act limitations still applied to student loans. Justice Scalia concurred but argued express-reference clauses in earlier statutes cannot bind future legislatures.