President Joe Biden announced that American college graduates could receive student loan forgiveness assistance in as soon as “two weeks.” Yesterday (Nov. 10), a Texas federal judge blocked the request and even called it illegal.
via: NPR
The federal government quickly appealed the decision, which came just weeks before student loan payments are set to resume in January. The program was already on hold while a federal appeals court in St. Louis considers a separate lawsuit by six states challenging it.
In Thursday’s ruling, Judge Mark T. Pittman, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote that the program was a “complete usurpation” of congressional authority by the executive branch.
Pittman rejected the Biden administration’s arguments that, in a law known as the HEROES Act, Congress had already given the president the power to erase student loan debts in a time of national emergency and that the COVID-19 pandemic is just such an emergency.
“In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,” Pittman wrote. “Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government.”
“We strongly disagree with the District Court’s ruling on our student debt relief program,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said. “The President and this Administration are determined to help working and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents – backed by extreme Republican special interests – sued to block millions of Americans from getting much-needed relief.”
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