In a pivotal legal victory for President Joe Biden just weeks ahead of the 2024 election, a federal judge appointed by George W. Bush has ruled that Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan can move forward, delivering much-needed relief to millions of Americans burdened by debt.
U.S. District Judge Randal Hall, based in Georgia, issued a ruling late Wednesday that allowed a temporary restraining order blocking the plan to expire. This decision clears the way for Biden’s administration to continue its controversial effort to forgive billions in student loans, despite previous setbacks, including a Supreme Court ruling against an earlier iteration of the plan.
Judge Hall’s decision comes at a critical juncture, as student debt relief remains a central issue for many younger voters, a key demographic for the upcoming election.
The ruling also reignites the national debate over the Biden administration’s efforts to ease the student loan crisis. Hall, despite being a Republican-appointed judge, sided with the administration in this case, allowing them to move forward with a revised plan aimed at providing some level of debt relief.
Biden’s initial attempt to cancel over $400 billion in student loans faced significant hurdles, most notably from the Supreme Court. In 2023, the court ruled 6-3 to strike down the first version of the plan, which aimed to forgive up to $10,000 in student debt for borrowers earning $125,000 or less and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.
The court’s ruling was a major blow to the administration, as the plan had been a key element of Biden’s 2022 midterm campaign strategy, particularly targeted at younger voters and those struggling with overwhelming student debt.
However, the Biden administration quickly regrouped and rolled out a new approach through the Department of Education, which developed a workaround plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans. The revised program focused on counting non-payments as qualified payments for a specific period, essentially lowering the debt burden for borrowers who had been in repayment plans for years. This strategy bypassed some of the legal hurdles posed by the Supreme Court decision, but it still faced opposition.
Seven GOP-led states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio — promptly filed a lawsuit to block this new version of the student loan forgiveness plan, arguing that it was illegal.
These states contended that the Biden administration was overstepping its authority by pursuing debt cancellation through administrative channels rather than seeking Congressional approval. Despite these legal challenges, Judge Hall’s ruling handed Biden a crucial victory, at least for now.
Judge Hall’s decision to let the restraining order expire effectively shifts the legal battle to Missouri, where the case will continue. In his ruling, Hall stated that the state of Georgia had “no legal basis” to sue the Biden administration, transferring the case out of his jurisdiction. The decision allows the Biden administration to proceed with its efforts to forgive student loans while the case plays out in Missouri courts.
The potential impact of this ruling is immense. According to estimates from the Center for American Progress, the plan could benefit as many as three in every four federal student loan holders. This would provide substantial relief to borrowers who have long struggled with ballooning student debt, many of whom have seen their financial situations worsened by stagnant wages and rising costs of living.
The Biden administration has framed the forgiveness plan as a way to address income inequality and provide an economic boost to middle- and lower-income Americans, who are disproportionately affected by student debt.
Republicans, however, have been fiercely critical of the plan, labeling it as an overreach of executive power and a political maneuver aimed at securing votes. Some GOP lawmakers argue that the forgiveness program unfairly benefits a specific subset of the population at the expense of taxpayers who either didn’t attend college or have already repaid their loans.
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri has been vocal in his opposition, tweeting, “My office will be filing suit against Joe Biden for his latest illegal student loan plan. The Supreme Court sided with us on this matter the first time. I look forward to bringing home yet another win for the Constitution and the rule of law.”
Despite these criticisms, the Biden administration has pressed forward, with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona championing the plan as essential for the economic well-being of millions of Americans. Cardona recently stated that the administration remains committed to providing relief for student borrowers and that they would continue to fight in court to defend the program.
Judge Hall’s ruling, while a temporary win for the Biden administration, doesn’t mark the end of the legal challenges the student loan forgiveness plan faces. The case will now be fought in Missouri, where the GOP-led lawsuit seeks to halt the program entirely. However, with this recent development, Biden has gained a significant boost as the election approaches, offering him a chance to appeal to young and middle-class voters who may see the student loan forgiveness plan as a lifeline.
As the legal battles rage on, the fate of student loan forgiveness hangs in the balance, but for now, Biden has scored a crucial victory in his efforts to deliver on one of his administration’s signature promises.