President Joe Biden‘s plan to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was declared illegal and must be cancelled, says a U.S. federal judge in Texas on Thursday, giving conservative opponents of the initiative a triumph.
As he ruled in favour of two borrowers who were supported by a conservative advocacy group, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump in Fort Worth, labelled the programme an “unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power.”
The 8th U.S. District Court has already temporarily stopped the debt relief scheme
The 8th U.S. District Court, which is situated in St. Louis, has already temporarily stopped the debt relief scheme. While it considers a request to enjoin it made by six Republican-led states while they reviewed the dismissal of their own lawsuit, the Circuit Court of Appeals.
The judge’s decision resulted from a case filed by two debtors who were either completely or partially qualified for the loan forgiveness promised by Biden’s scheme. The plaintiffs claimed it was illegal and that proper rulemaking procedures were not followed.
The Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy organisation started by Bernie Marcus, a co-founder of Home Depot, supported the borrowers.
The American Justice Department moved quickly to challenge the decision. The government vehemently disagreed with the choice, according to a statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Department of Education has now granted petitions from 16 million Americans
The U.S. Department of Education has now granted petitions from 16 million of the approximately 26 million Americans who have sought student loan forgiveness. When we win in court, Jean-Pierre explained, the government will save their information “so it can promptly handle their relief.”
“We will never stop fighting for hard-working Americans most in need – no matter how many roadblocks our opponents and special interests try to put in our way,” she said.
Conservative state attorneys general and legal organisations have filed several lawsuits against Biden’s plan, but plaintiffs had a difficult time persuading the courts that they were actually harmed by it in a way that gave them legal standing until Thursday.