30 million student loan borrowers are getting more bad news with the latest court ruling

• A federal court in Missouri has issued a preliminary injunction against Biden’s broader student debt relief plan.
• This ruling officially blocks implementation of the relief pending a final court decision.
• The decision came on the same day the injunction on the relief was set to expire.

Legal whiplash continues for millions of student loan borrowers.

On Thursday, Judge Matthew Schelp of the Eastern District of Missouri, appointed by former President Donald Trump, issued a preliminary injunction on President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student debt under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

That ruling came just hours after it emerged that a separate federal court may have given borrowers a lifeline. After a group of Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit in Georgia in September to block the debt relief, a federal judge ruled that Georgia was the inappropriate venue for the lawsuit and sent the case to Missouri.

Schelps’ ruling comes on the final day of the appeal’s interim injunction. Had Schelp not gone ahead and issued an injunction on the remedy, the injunction would have expired and Biden would have been allowed to proceed with implementing the remedy.

“The balance of harm and injury combined with the public interest easily leads this court to conclude that injunctive relief should be issued,” Schelp wrote. “The public has an immense interest in ensuring that their own government follows the law.”

The ruling also states that an injunction is necessary because it will preserve the status quo and prevent the administration from canceling student debt pending a final court decision.

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The Education Department had originally planned to begin paying off student debt in October, and the final rule for relief has yet to be released.

But the Republican attorneys general’s lawsuit argued that, according to internal documents they obtained through communications between the department and service providers, the Education Department was preparing to cancel student debt early, which they said violated administrative process violated.

With the latest ruling, Schelp wrote that the Department of Education is required to “cancel student loans en masse, forgive principal or interest, not charge borrowers for accrued interest, or further implement other measures under the rule or direct federal contractors to implement such measures.” seize”. “

This is the latest development in the legal roller coaster that millions of student loan borrowers have experienced over the past year. In addition to the lawsuits to block Biden’s broader debt relief, his SAVE income-driven repayment plan is also blocked in court pending a final court decision.

It is unclear whether the administration will consider other forms of relief for borrowers as the legal process continues. An Education Ministry spokesperson told BI in a statement on Thursday that it would continue to fight for relief in court.