Barrett did not refer the case to the full Supreme Court, acting alone in refusing to take up the case. She denied the application without any explanation.
Biden’s plan, unveiled in August, was designed to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year, or $250,000 for married couples. Borrowers who received Pell Grants to benefit lower-income college students would have up to $20,000 of their debt canceled.
Two weeks ago, Barrett declined a similar request from a taxpayer group in Wisconsin to temporarily block the administration from implementing the debt program.
The plaintiffs had argued that the Department of Education “not only exceeded its authority ... but has also violated constitutional limits.”
“They thus have no legitimate interest in avoiding an injunction,” they said. “Huge numbers of borrowers face the immediate possibility of unwanted, and unlawful, tax liability through automatic cancellation, while every American will foot the half-trillion-dollar bill for [the Department of Education’s] improper actions.
In what appears to be campaign messaging ahead of the midterms, the administration also claimed that “if Republican officials get their way, tens of millions of Americans’ monthly costs will rise dramatically when student loan payments resume next year.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have been critical of the program, saying that it would place undue burden on taxpayers. They’ve also questioned the timing of the debt program, which was unveiled with just weeks to go before the Nov. 8 midterms.
Since Biden announced the plan in August, it has faced at least six lawsuits. For now, the student loan forgiveness portion of the plan was placed on hold from a challenge brought by six Republican-led states several weeks ago.
A federal appeals court in late October temporarily blocked the Biden plan, granting a request from the six Republican-led states. They are Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina.
