The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a second request to block the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness program, after a federal court in the state of Indiana ruled against the measure.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has refused to accept a legal challenge brought by leaders of six GOP-ruled states seeking to stop the U.S. government from forgiving student debts of up to $10,000 for young people earning less than $125,000 a year, CNBC has learned.
Previously, the conservative legal group had argued that Biden’s student loan forgiveness program hurt Indiana taxpayers, and a month earlier another Republican group had justified the appeal by appealing that the federal government «does not have the authority to cancel the debt because Congress has not authorized it.»
In both cases, a federal district court rejected their arguments and dismissed the appeals, concluding that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring them, taking the suit to the Supreme Court.
However, despite the Supreme Court judge’s rejection, the debt forgiveness program will continue to be stalled due to another court order blocking the process until it is resolved in court, as reported by Forbes magazine.
Even so, the temporary suspension of the program does not prevent borrowers from continuing to apply for student debt relief or to stop reviewing applications to be ready once the blockage ends, as White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre announced in a statement two weeks ago.
Biden’s plan calls for the cancellation of $10,000 in debt acquired by all young people earning less than $125,000 a year. And, in the case of those who have received public aid for higher education, the money pardoned amounts to 20,000 dollars, according to the White House.
The U.S. Administration estimates that 45 million citizens have debts of this type, totaling 1.6 billion dollars. About 16 percent of these people do not have the resources to pay them, and this burden is particularly heavy on traditionally vulnerable groups, such as the black community.
Despite several attempts by the Republican Party to overturn the measure, the U.S. government has argued that it is authorized to cancel the debt through the Higher Education Student Opportunity Relief Act of 2003. The legislation allows the Secretary of Education to cancel the debt of student loan borrowers in times of «national emergency.»
