Supreme Court strikes blow to Biden’s student loan handout plan

The Supreme Court opted Wednesday against restoring President Biden’s student loan handout — at least for now.

The high court rebuffed a request by the Harris-Biden administration’s Justice Department to lift an injunction imposed by a lower court halting the write-off while lawsuits opposing the plan make their way through the legal system.

“The [Supreme] Court expects that the Court of Appeals will render its decision with appropriate dispatch,” the brief unsigned order said. There were no noted dissents.

Seven Republican-led states have sued to block Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, the president’s latest attempt to cancel hundreds of billions in federally held student loan debt after the justices nixed his bid to do so under the HEROES Act in 2023. 

Under the SAVE plan, monthly income-based repayments would be reduced from 10% to 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income. The plan also wouldn’t require borrowers to make payments if they earn less than 225% of the federal poverty line — $32,800 a year for a single person.

Opponents say the plan, which could cost as much as $475 billion, is an unconstitutional bailout that amounts to a payoff of key Democratic Party constituencies — young and college-educated voters.

Two separate legal challenges to the SAVE plan have been making their way through courts. In June, judges in Kansas and Missouri issued separate rulings that blocked much of the administration’s plan. Debt that already had been forgiven under the plan was unaffected.

The Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling July 1 that allowed the Education Department to proceed with the provision allowing for lower monthly payments.

On Aug. 8, the St. Louis-based 8th Circuit Court of Appeals imposed an injunction that froze the entire plan.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona decried the ruling, arguing it “rejects a practice of providing loan forgiveness that goes back 30 years.”

Thus far, the Department of Education has projected that some 4.7 million Americans have had their debts forgiven to the tune of $168 billion.