Late on Friday, October 21, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the Biden-Harris administration's Student Debt Relief Plan while it considers a lawsuit brought by six Republican state attorneys general to block the program. The court announced that it would hear the emergency request levied by Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina on an expedited basis, with briefs from each side due Monday and Tuesday. The court issued the stay after the states sent a notice of appeal to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday night following the denial of their case by U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey.
The states argue in their lawsuit that the Biden-Harris administration has overstepped its authority in taking sweeping financial action without the authorization of Congress. They requested a stay of the program based on the economic harms, including lost tax revenue and damages to state-based loan companies that manage some federal loans, that they contend it would cause their states. The Biden-Harris administration asserts that the Student Debt Relief Plan can be implemented under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act (HERO Act, H.R. 1412), which allows the Secretary of Education to waive federal student loan repayments during national emergencies. The administration, backed by the Department of Justice, contends that COVID-19 is a time of national emergency and therefore they may take this action.
Although the Biden-Harris administration had previously announced that it would begin clearing student debt as early as October 23, the stay will force the administration to adjust its timeline. Experts now say that the earliest the administration is expected to begin clearing debt is mid-November. Despite the stay, Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona maintained in a USA Today Op-Ed that the administration "is moving full speed ahead" to deliver student loan debt relief. He also touted that 22 million people have already submitted their application to the program.
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