Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to student loan forgiveness block

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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a request from the Biden administration over a block of a student-loan forgiveness plan.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey led the multi-state effort to block the plan introduced by the U.S. Department of Education in April. Judge John A. Ross of the U.S. District Court Eastern Missouri Division issued a stay on parts of the rule in June. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision and blocked the entire rule.

The decision issued Wednesday by the Supreme Court is two sentences with no signature.

“The application to vacate injunction presented to Justice Kavanaugh and by him referred to the Court is denied. The Court expects that the Court of Appeals will render its decision with appropriate dispatch,” the decision said.

The rule was the Biden administration’s second attempt at sweeping forgiveness of student loans. The plan would have exempted additional income from payment calculations and decreased the maximum percentage of discretionary income used to calculate monthly payments from 10% to 5%.

“This court order is a stark reminder to the Biden-Harris Administration that Congress did not grant them the authority to saddle working Americans with $500 billion in someone else’s Ivy League debt,” Bailey said in a news release. “This is a huge win for every American who still believes in paying their own way.”

The attorneys general of Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma and North Dakota were also part of the suit.

“No matter how many times or how many ways they try, the Biden-Harris administration can’t circumvent the law and unilaterally cancel student loans,” said Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. “For the federal government to take such action, Congress would have to vote on it.”