A federal judge declared President Joe Biden’s sweeping student debt relief plan unlawful in a Thursday evening filing.
District Judge Mark Pittman, who was appointed by former President Trump, ruled that the program, which would have provided borrowers with up to $20,000 in student loan relief, was “an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power” and must be vacated.
Biden’s debt relief plan had already faced roadblocks from the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which temporarily paused the program while it considered a request by six Republican-led states to enjoin it while they appealed the dismissal of their own lawsuit. (RELATED: Taxpayers Push Supreme Court to Intervene in Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan)
In a 26-page ruling, Judge Pittman wrote that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) – a law that provides loan assistance to military personnel and that was relied upon by the Biden administration to enact the relief plan – did not authorize the $400 billion student loan forgiveness program, according to The Hill.
As an agency, the Department of Education technically receives its authority to make rules from Congress. Since the issue of student loan forgiveness is of vast “economic and political significance,” Pittman found that the agency is required to show that it has a clear authorization from Congress for the program, which he ruled it did not.
“Whether the Program constitutes good public policy is not the role of this Court to determine,” Pittman said in the ruling. “Still, no one can plausibly deny that it is either one of the largest delegations of legislative power to the executive branch, or one of the largest exercises of legislative power without congressional authority in the history of the United States.”
Last month conservative advocacy group, the Job Creators Network Foundation, filed a lawsuit on the behalf of one borrower who is ineligible for the relief program and another who is not eligible for the full $20,000.
The Foundation argued in its lawsuit that the DoE had failed to allow for public notice and comment on the program and that the agency generally lacked the authority to forgive student loans under the HEROES Act. (RELATED: President Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Faces Uphill Battle in Court)
Biden’s debt relief program would forgive up to $10,000 in student loans for borrowers who make under $125,000 and up to $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants.
Judge Pittman’s ruling marks the biggest victory thus far for conservative opponents of the Biden administration’s debt relief program.
President Biden’s signature student loan handout has since announced it will stop taking applications, the Student Aid website application has now been changed to a plain text page with the heading, “Student Loan Debt Relief Is Blocked.”
“Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief program,” the website states. “As a result, at this time, we are not accepting applications. We are seeking to overturn those orders.”
This story is developing. Stay with American Liberty News for the latest updates.
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Hooray Victory
The “scheme” is nothing short of criminal and he needs held far more accountable.
This plan should go in the trash bin, along with Joe and his circus.