WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Missouri put a temporary hold on President Joe Biden's latest student loan cancellation plan on Thursday, slamming the door on hope it would move forward after another judge allowed a pause to expire. Just as it briefly appeared the Biden administration would have a window to push its plan forward, U.S.
District Judge Matthew Schelp in Missouri granted an injunction blocking any widespread cancellation. Six Republican-led states requested the injunction hours earlier, after a federal judge in Georgia decided not to extend a separate order blocking the plan. The states, led by Missouri's attorney general, asked Schelp to act fast, saying the Education Department could “unlawfully mass cancel up to hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans as soon as Monday.
” Schelp called it an easy decision. Biden's plan has been on hold since September, when the states filed a lawsuit in Georgia arguing Biden had overstepped his legal authority. But on Thursday, U.
S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall decided not to extend the pause after finding that Georgia doesn't have the legal right to sue in this case.
Hall dismissed Georgia from the case and transferred it to Missouri, which Hall said has “clear standing” to challenge Biden's plan. Proponents of student loan cancellation briefly had a glimmer of hope the plan would move forward — Hall's order was set to expire after Thursday, allowing the Education Department to finalize the rul.