Three GOP-led states are asking the Supreme Court for emergency intervention to temporarily block the implementation of President Biden’s latest effort to provide a student loan handout to millions of borrowers.
The time-sensitive appeal was sent to Justice Neil Gorsuch, who could make the decision himself or ask his colleagues to weigh in.
Most likely, the court will ask the government to file a response brief, and an order from the court could be issued in the days or weeks that follow.
On Sunday, a federal appeals court in Denver issued a temporary stay to a lower court ruling against the Biden administration on the matter.
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The states filing the emergency application — Alaska, Texas and South Carolina — are now asking the high court to lift the stay.
The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan announced by the administration last year would help millions of borrowers enrolled in a federal student loan program to lower their monthly debt payments and provide a path to debt forgiveness.
The lower payments were expected to kick in July 1 for an estimated 8 million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE program.
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In the application to Gorsuch, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor said because of the administration’s “intransigence,” the court must “unfortunately step in again.”
“Time is of the essence. Not only do the States and the public at large need to know as soon as possible whether the SAVE Plan is lawful, but the Biden Administration is not done,” the attorneys general wrote. “On April 17, 2024, the Department announced yet another rule to spend hundreds of billions of dollars waiving student debt. 89 Fed. Reg. 27654.
“That Proposed Rule is expected to be final well before this litigation concludes absent intervention from this Court. Legal certainty from this Court is essential whenever hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake, but it is particularly critical where, as here, commentators across the political spectrum have observed that federal government is flouting this Court’s decision in Nebraska.
“The Court should thus grant review and summarily reject the SAVE Plan or set the case for briefing and argument to ensure that federal law retains its integrity and to prevent the Department from unilaterally giving away hundreds of billions of dollars.”
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Earlier this year, Biden announced the SAVE plan that cancels debt for enrolled borrowers who have been in repayment for at least 10 years and have $12,000 or less in student loan debt. Those with larger debts will receive relief after an additional year of payments for every additional $1,000 they borrowed.
In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that federal law does not allow Biden’s Secretary of Education to cancel more than $430 billion in student loan debt.
Biden promised at the time that his administration would continue to push for his student debt relief plan.
Shortly after the court’s ruling, Biden said, “I think the court misinterpreted the Constitution.”
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