Missouri judge continues block of Biden student loan cancellation

A day after a federal judge in Georgia transferred a lawsuit against a Biden administration student loan forgiveness program to a federal court in Missouri, a Missouri judge chose to block its enforcement for now. The Supreme Court last year found a Biden administration student loan forgiveness plan to be unconstitutional. The administration has since tried various other methods for canceling borrowers’ loans, each of which has faced legal challenges.

So what exactly is this Missouri judge deciding? A student loan forgiveness plan that the Center for American Progress estimated could have provided some financial relief to three out of every four borrowers—or 32 million people—will not go into effect while litigation continues. The judge ruled that the states suing the Biden administration over the plan—of which Missouri is one—would suffer irreparable harm if the White House wrongfully canceled the student loans. The states suing the administration are also likely to succeed on the merits, the judge found.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how the Supreme Court has continued to frown upon Biden administration student loan forgiveness measures.