Biden will ask the Supreme Court to allow his student-loan forgiveness plan to move forward after lower courts blocked the relief
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- The 8th Circuit Court blocked Biden's student-debt relief from moving forward on Monday.
- On Thursday, the Justice Department said it's planning to ask the Supreme Court to reverse that decision.
- It also appealed another ruling from a Texas judge who declared the debt relief illegal.
Amid a series of legal challenges, President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan is heading back to the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, Politico first reported that the Justice Department is planning to ask the Supreme Court to allow Biden's debt relief plan to move forward. It request comes after the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that the temporary stay it previously placed on the loan forgiveness will remain in effect indefinitely. That decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states who argued the relief would hurt their states' tax revenues.
Along with the 8th Circuit's decision, a federal judge in Texas last week also blocked the debt relief and ruled it illegal, in response to a different lawsuit filed by two student-loan borrowers who didn't qualify for the full $20,000 in relief. The Biden administration filed an appeal of that decision, as well.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has already dismissed two requests from different conservative lawsuits that were seeking to block Biden's debt relief, but it's unclear how the Court will rule on the lawsuits Biden's administration is challenging given the lower courts' decisions to block the debt cancellation.
It could take months to resolve these legal proceedings, which is why some advocates and Democratic lawmakers are also pushing for Biden to extend the student-loan payment pause, currently set to expire after December 31. In a recent court filing, Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal noted that the Education Department is "examining all available options" to help borrowers.
"For example, the Department estimates that if it temporarily extends the existing COVID-19 pandemic payment and interest accrual pause for federal student loan holders, it will cost taxpayers several billion dollars a month in unrecovered loan revenue," Kvaal wrote.
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