Supreme Court blocks Biden’s latest try at student loan relief

More than one in 10 Americans hold federal student debt – and it has been a major election issue for young voters.

To date, Mr Biden has approved nearly $150bn in relief affecting close to five million people – but largely through executive actions, and not via Congress.

Mr Biden has touted Save, which stands for “Saving on a Valuable Education”, as “the most affordable student loan repayment plan ever”.

More than 400,000 Save participants have already seen some or all of their debts cancelled, including many low-income borrowers.

A second phase was due to further reduce payments from 1 July. That included halving monthly bills for low-income participants.

Republican-led states filed two separate lawsuits this summer, saying that only congress can enact massive spending plans and that the relief would be “extraordinarily expensive”.

Federal judges then issued injunctions against Save and indicated that the states would probably succeed in their lawsuits.

In Kansas, US District Judge Daniel Crabtree blocked parts of Save intended to reduce monthly payments and adjust payment periods for borrowers with loans larger than $12,000.

In Missouri, US District Judge John Ross prevented the education department from forgiving loan balances.

But from there the cases diverged. The 10th Circuit court lifted the Kansas injunction, while the 8th Circuit court kept the Missouri injunction in place.

The states and the Biden administration then filed emergency petitions to the Supreme Court, putting the injunctions on what is commonly called the “shadow docket”.

On Wednesday, the conservative-majority court upheld the Missouri injunction.