Appeals Court Temporarily Halts Biden’s Student Debt Cancellation

The debt cancellation plan was put on hold by a federal appeals court on Friday, preventing the government from moving ahead with it.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted a stay in response to an appeal filed by six attorneys general from Republican-led states.

The court will have to rule on the states request for an injunction to stop the government from discharging debts. The government has until Monday to submit its response and the states have until Tuesday to reply.

Judge Henry E. Autrey of the Federal District Court in St. Louis rejected the state's claim for lack of standing.

The current plaintiffs are unable to resolve their challenges to the debt relief plan.

Mr. Biden wants to eliminate federal student loan debt for people who earn less than $125,000 per year, or $250,000 per household, and for people who received grants for low income families. The application system opened last week and has already received 22 million applications.

In a speech at Delaware State University on Friday, Mr. Biden attacked the states lawsuit as the most significant legal challenge to his plan. The program will cost $379 billion over the course of three decades, according to the Education Department. Republican members of Congress and Republican governors are trying to deny relief to their own people.

The lawsuit states that their claims are likely to succeed on the merits and that they have raised substantial or close questions about whether they have standing to pursue this case.

The states will not be able to remedy all the harms they are experiencing once debt is canceled. Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina are involved in the lawsuit.

A 2003 federal law allows the education secretary to modify financial assistance programs for students when there is a war or a national emergency. According to the Biden administration, there is an emergency due to the Pandemic.

The ability to file a lawsuit against another party for harms was always expected to be a problem for those opposed to Mr. Biden.

The plan to block legal challenges has been scaled back. The Department of Education said in September that some Federal Family Education Loans could not be consolidated into direct federal loans, which are eligible for forgiveness. Hundreds of thousands of borrowers who thought they were eligible for student loan forgiveness would not be able to do so.

Debt relief groups have been disappointed by that.

While he was on a hardship deferral, Matt took out $27,000 in loans and now has a debt of $42,000.

Mr. Lennartz said that he was beyond frustration with regards to finances. It's kind of crazy.

If Mr. Biden succeeds in his plan, Delaware State University students will be eligible for relief.

The student who introduced Mr. Biden took out loans in order to pay for his education. If Mr. Biden has his way, he will be debt-free.

Mr. Bernard said that this will allow him and his friends to think about starting businesses and saving for their first home.