Supreme Court rejects request to block student loan debt relief program

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request by a taxpayers group to block the Biden administration’s student loan debt relief program

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Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied the emergency application to block the program, CNBC and CNN reported. The Brown County Taxpayers Association in Wisconsin on Wednesday asked the high court to put the program on hold and consider the group’s appeal, according to WLUK-TV.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Wednesday filed the suit on behalf of the taxpayers group.

Barrett is responsible for applications issued from cases in the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, a jurisdiction that includes Wisconsin, CNBC reported.

The suit was originally filed in Wisconsin, but was rejected by a federal judge and then denied by the appeals court. An emergency motion for an injunction to stop the program was dismissed by U.S. District Judge William C. Griesbach.

Loan cancellations could begin as soon as Sunday, CNN reported. More than 8 million individuals submitted applications for the program last weekend through a beta test from the U.S. Department of Education, according to CNBC.

The debt relief plan began went live and began accepting applications on Monday, according to The Associated Press.

The Biden administration enacted the program that forgives $10,000 of federally funded student loan debt, $20,000 in Pell Grant loans, under the HEROES Act.

The act gave the executive branch authority to forgive student loan debt in association with military operations or national emergencies after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The tax group’s lawsuit claimed that Biden did not have the authority to dismiss the debts. Several other groups have filed similar lawsuits, including a group of states looking to stop the program.

“The federal government is engaged in a so-far hidden, ever-changing and increasingly crumbling escapade of lawlessness,” said James A. Campbell of the Nebraska attorney general’s office, who represented the states in court last week.

“Everything we’ve learned so far shows that the department is making this up as they go,” Campbell said. “They are acting without agency authority. And they are flouting the HEROES Act, which doesn’t give them the broad authority they claim.”

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