WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider whether the federal government can seize a person’s Social Security payments to pay off student loan debts that are at least a decade old.

Justices agreed to hear an appeal by James Lockhart, a disabled man who says he needs his monthly check to pay for food and medication. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the U.S. Department of Education, which wants to seize his Social Security checks.

The case hinges on a pair of congressional statutes that send mixed messages as to whether Social Security payments are shielded: the Debt Collection Act and the Higher Education Act, or HEA.

When Congress passed the HEA in 1991, it eliminated the 10-year time limit on the government’s right to seek repayment on defaulted student loans by seizing payments to individuals.

However, the Debt Collection Act created an exception to that rule for Social Security payments. Congress eventually amended that law to allow the seizure of Social Security payments, but then left intact - either inadvertently or not - a separate provision that continued to set a 10-year time limit.

Those deadbeats who benefitted oughta pay!

But has anyone ever investigated to see who those deadbeats are? Longterm observation suggests to me that nearly all degreed individuals make progress towards paying off student loan debts. Could it be that college washouts, and people burdened with unforeseen costs like major medical problems are the vast majority of those in default?

It can be a vicious circle, if so. The drag on their credit rating can keep credit out of reach or available at inflated rates, both of which further limit the available funds to repay. And the best answer our government has is to impoverish them in old age?

I can’t predict how the Supremes will rule, but it’s the intent of Congress that concerns me. If it’s healthy graduates who aren’t paying, it makes sense to pursue them, but if it’s people who are simply too poor, no amount of punitive measures can extract blood from a stone.

Considering the debt relief our government provides poor nations, you’d think they’d occasionally provide an out for our fellow citizens trapped in this vicious cycle. It doesn’t have to be something-for-nothing charity. It could be a program where the able-bodied agree to community service in return for forgiveness of outstanding defaults, and only the disabled are granted a Get Out of Debt For Free card.

The reality is the student loan program is a huge form of corporate welfare to financial institutions, whose risks are eliminated by government guarantees. And providing higher education support advances both the interests of the nation and individuals. If it’s the weakest and poorest at the root of this problem, what does it gain anyone to drive them further into poverty? A managed program allowing a trade-off for community service provides mutual benefits without institutionalizing poverty to the grave.