The College Fix

Stays the program while legal challenge continues

A federal court temporarily blocked President Joe Biden’s student loan bailout while a legal challenge continues.

Six states challenged President Biden’s executive order to transfer student loan debt to taxpayers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit temporarily enjoined on Friday the program from going into effect upon a request from six states that have challenged the bailout.

President Biden and his administration must answer the lawsuit by the end of the day today and then the six states must answer by the end of the day Tuesday, the court ruled.

It followed a ruling from a Missouri federal judge that allowed the bailout to go into effect, according to Reuters.

Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina wrote in their initial September 29 federal lawsuit that “the [Biden] Administration resorted to a federal law whose purpose is to provide relief to individuals who have suffered from an emergency like the 9/11 terrorist attacks or who must serve their country overseas in the military.”

The attorneys general for the six Republican states cited evidence that shows the HEROES Act should not be read to justify a broad student loan bailout. The Biden administration has used COVID fears as justification for its invocation of the law.

Biden’s bailout, the attorneys general alleged, is “the epitome of unlawful and arbitrary agency action, and it should be set aside.”

Other legal actions against the bailout have not been as successful. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied an emergency appeal from a Wisconsin taxpayer advocacy group to stop the executive action.

MORE: Biden scales back student loan bailout as legal challenges mount

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