The Supreme Court declined to reinstate the Biden administration’s latest student loan relief program, keeping a lower court’s sweeping injunction in place while litigation continues, raising further uncertainty for borrowers.
In an unsigned order on Wednesday, without any justices noting their disagreement, the high court rejected the federal government’s application to vacate the injunction, which the government told the justices “has scrambled the Department’s administration of loans for millions of borrowers.”
The order said that the court “expects that the Court of Appeals will render its decision with appropriate dispatch,” referring to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued the injunction during litigation over the legality of the effort. The case could return to the justices after the circuit court rules on the merits of the issue.
The move follows the Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority striking down a previous Biden administration loan relief effort last year. The latest one at issue here is known as the SAVE plan, an income-driven repayment effort that, like last year’s case, was challenged by Republican-led states who sued to block the Biden administration plan.
Wednesday’s order marks the justices’ latest emergency ruling this summer ahead of their next term beginning in October.
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