Biden administration to ask SCOTUS to unblock student debt relief plan
The Justice Department is planning to ask the Supreme Court to unblock the Biden administration's student debt cancellation plan, The Associated Press reports. The DOJ announced its plan Thursday in a legal filing, warning that further delays will lead to financial strain when loan payments restart in January.
Biden's proposed student debt relief plan has faced heavy criticism and legal opposition since it was unveiled. The Education Department recently announced they were putting the application on pause after a Texas judge blocked the plan in a lawsuit brought by the Job Creators Network Foundation on behalf of two borrowers. And just days after that, a federal appeals court in St. Louis issued an injunction halting the program nationwide.
The DOJ is attempting to appeal before SCOTUS the most recent ruling from St. Louis, and said it is ready to bring forward the Texas decision if needed. The administration is hoping the high court will block the previous orders so that the relief plan can move forward while legal challenges play out, per AP.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In the court filing, the administration argues that keeping debt cancellation on hold would leave the government with an "unnecessarily perilous choice." If it restarts student loan payments in January as planned, millions of Americans will have to pay for the debt the plan promised to cancel. On the other hand, if the government extends the payment pause, it will lose billions of dollars in revenue.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.
-
Biggest political break-ups and make-ups of 2025The Explainer From Trump and Musk to the UK and the EU, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a round-up of the year’s relationship drama
-
Why 2025 was a pivotal year for AITalking Point The ‘hype’ and ‘hopes’ around artificial intelligence are ‘like nothing the world has seen before’
-
The best drama TV series of 2025the week recommends From the horrors of death to the hive-mind apocalypse, TV is far from out of great ideas
-
Israel approves new West Bank settlementsSpeed Read The ‘Israeli onslaught has all but vanquished a free Palestinian existence in the West Bank’
-
US offers Ukraine NATO-like security pact, with caveatsSpeed Read The Trump administration has offered Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive from NATO
-
Hong Kong court convicts democracy advocate LaiSpeed Read Former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was convicted in a landmark national security trial
-
Australia weighs new gun laws after antisemitic attackSpeed Read A father and son opened fire on Jewish families at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing at least 15
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Benin thwarts coup attemptSpeed Read President Patrice Talon condemned an attempted coup that was foiled by the West African country’s army
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
