Washington — The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to reinstate the Biden administration’s latest plan to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers, leaving them in limbo while the appeals process plays out.
The justices turned down a request from the Justice Department to lift a sweeping appeals court order that blocked the program, known as the SAVE plan, which has been the subject of legal challenges from more than a dozen GOP-led states in recent months. The court said in an unsigned order that it “expects that the court of appeals will render its decision with appropriate dispatch.”
Its order leaves the injunction from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in place for now. The Education Department paused loan payments for borrowers enrolled in the program earlier this month because of the ongoing legal proceedings.
Mr. Biden’s attempts to provide relief to millions of Americans has not fared well before the Supreme Court, which last year struck down an earlier plan that would have benefited more than 40 million Americans and forgiven nearly half-a-trillion-dollars in loans.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.