Lockhart v. United States

In the U.S. Supreme Court, we represented James Lockhart, an elderly disabled man who relied on his monthly social security check to pay for his food and prescription medication. The Court granted our petition for certiorari to decide whether the Social Security Act and the Debt Collection Act bar the government from withholding social security benefits to collect student loan debt that has been outstanding for more than ten years, as the Eighth Circuit had held, or whether the Higher Education Act eliminates any such bar, as the Ninth Circuit had held. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court agreed with the government that a portion of Mr. Lockhart’s social security benefits may be withheld.