There has been a quick turn of events that will impact millions of borrowers.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan was given the green light to be put into action on Oct. 2, 2024, by U.S. District Judge Randall Hall, who represents the Southern District of Georgia. NBC News reports the plan had been under a temporary restraining order that was a result of a lawsuit against Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. It was brought forward by the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio.
Hall was willing to allow the temporary restraining order to expire, and this was based on his belief that the Southern District of Georgia order “failed to show an injury that is concrete, particularized, actual, or imminent.”
“Without standing, the Court finds it proper to dismiss Georgia as a party to the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and turns to Defendants’ arguments related to venue,” he wrote, per a previous NBC report.
While the decision was a victory for the Biden Administration, it did not linger for long. According to new information shared by NBC, the plan has once again been blocked, this time by Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.
The U.S. Department of Education will not be permitted to move forward with student forgiveness plans until an official filing from Schelp.
“Allowing Defendants to eliminate the student loan debt at issue here would prevent this Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court from reviewing this matter on the backend, allowing Defendants’ actions to evade review,” Schelp said, per NBC News.
The Biden-Harris Administration will be at a standstill for its efforts, which have already resulted in “$146 billion in student debt relief for 4 million Americans through more than two dozen executive actions,” a press release from the White House mentioned. The administration seeks to impact at least 30 million borrowers when including all its measures taken to cancel student debt.
