A federal appeals court on Monday blocked President Biden’s student-loan forgiveness program, dealing a second serious blow to the plan, which already had been declared unconstitutional by a Texas court.
A three-judge panel for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis granted a preliminary injunction at the request of six Republican-led states that argued the program threatens future tax revenues and bucks Congress’ authority to cancel loans.
The six-page ruling did not decide the program’s legal merit but rather imposed a nationwide hold on the program pending an appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed the debt-relief plan to go forward.