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The Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan was pushed back again on Wednesday after an appeals court refused to pause a previous ruling against the policy.
In November, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman ruled against the student loan forgiveness plan, saying that it was illegal.
“In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,” Pittman wrote. “Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government.”
“We strongly disagree with the District Court’s ruling on our student debt relief program,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response at the time. “The President and this Administration are determined to help working and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents — backed by extreme Republican special interests — sued to block millions of Americans from getting much-needed relief.”
The U.S. Education Department had asked the 5th Circuit Court to put a hold on the previous ruling. It refused to do so on Wednesday, keeping Pittman’s ruling in place as the court issues a broader ruling on the Biden administration’s appeal. The court decided to accelerate the case’s timeline, however, to the “next available” oral argument.
