The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court this week to lift an injunction against its student loan forgiveness plan issued by a federal appeals court this month.
In a filing Tuesday, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a universal injunction halting the feds’ Savings on Valuable Education rule, which modifies a borrower’s repayment plan based on income and shortens the repayment timeline for some borrowers.
In her request, she asked the justices to lift the injunction as the litigation continues.
“The extraordinary injunction has scrambled the [Education] Department’s administration of loans for millions of borrowers,” she said in her filing.
The high court ordered the states that challenged the rule to respond by Monday.
The challengers in the dispute are Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota, Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals grappled with a similar challenge brought by states and issued a more narrow injunction, blocking only parts of the rule.
Those three conservative-led states — Alaska, South Carolina and Texas — asked the Supreme Court to block more of the SAVE plan in a filing last month.
The administration had begun processing some aspects of the SAVE rule.
Under the plan, student loan borrowers could shield more of their income that’s calculated when determining monthly payments, reduce the number of years to qualify for loan forgiveness and not have to pay part of the accrued interest.
In 2022, the Supreme Court shut down a prior attempt by President Biden to alleviate student loan debt, ruling the government couldn’t forgive some loans for borrowers making under $125,000, or $250,000 as a married couple.
The high court’s 6-3 ruling said the executive branch — specifically, the education secretary — doesn’t have the authority to waive student debt.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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