Biden’s effort to forgive millions of student loans was just dealt another blow

The Supreme Court on Wednesday announced that the Biden administration’s latest plan to forgive millions of dollars of student loan debt will remain on hold as legal challenges to loan forgiveness work their way through the lower courts.
The decision centered on the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan, which was introduced last year.
“More than 8 million people are enrolled in the new program, with debts already cleared for more than 400,000 borrowers,” per The Washington Post.
The Supreme Court’s order, which addressed an emergency appeal from the Biden administration, was unsigned and it did not include any dissents.
“The Court expects that the Court of Appeals will render its decision with appropriate dispatch,” the order said.
If the lower court’s ruling does indeed come quickly, it’s possible that the justices will be asked to fully brief and hear oral arguments in a student loan case as soon as this fall, according to The Washington Post.
Wednesday’s Supreme Court order is the latest in a series of challenges affecting the Biden administration’s efforts to offer student loan relief.
The Supreme Court previously blocked a different policy, ruling that the administration could not use a 2003 law related to national emergencies to justify widespread loan forgiveness.
“The majority said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s plan rested on an ‘exhaustive rewriting’ of the statute” from 2003, The Washington Post reported in June 2023.
In response to the ruling, President Joe Biden unveiled a new plan to forgive student debt through the federal rulemaking process. Once again, lawsuits were quickly filed to block the administration’s work, including by red state leaders.
One of those lawsuits led the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to temporarily block the SAVE plan. The Supreme Court order leaves that block in place.
Also on Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced that it would not overturn a separate ruling in favor of the Biden administration regarding the SAVE plan, since the 8th Circuit’s injunction keeps that ruling on hold.
“Applicants represent that they do not require emergency relief from this Court as long as the Eighth Circuit’s injunction … is in place,” the second order said.
The Biden administration has argued that all this legal wrangling harms American borrowers.
“Because of the Eighth Circuit’s orders … many borrowers are now experiencing intense confusion from being told that their payments must be recalculated and from being placed in forbearance — which will delay any eventual loan forgiveness,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in a Supreme Court filing, per CBS News.