Show-Me State Times

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a court order blocking President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ latest student loan cancellation initiative. The lawsuit, filed by Bailey, challenges the federal government’s “SAVE” Plan, which he argues would cost Americans $500 billion—$45 billion more than a previous student loan plan deemed unlawful.

“The Eighth Circuit rightfully recognized that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will do anything they can to evade the Constitution when it comes to ‘forgiving’ student loans in an election year,” said Attorney General Bailey. “This court order is a stark reminder to the Biden-Harris Administration that Congress did not grant them the authority to saddle working Americans with $500 billion in someone else’s Ivy League debt. This is a huge win for every American who still believes in paying their own way.”

The Eighth Circuit upheld the Eastern District of Missouri’s preliminary injunction and extended it further, stating: “The Government is, for any borrower whose loans are governed in whole or in part by the terms of the Improving Income Driven Repayment for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, 88 Fed. Reg. 43820, enjoined from any further forgiveness of principal or interest, from not charging borrowers accrued interest, and from further implementing SAVE’s payment-threshold provisions. This injunction will remain in effect until further order of this court or the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Previously, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Bailey's challenge against another Biden Administration student loan repayment plan. In a 6-3 decision, the Court struck down that plan as unconstitutional due to its significant impact on the federal budget without congressional approval. The Court also recognized Missouri’s student loan servicing company MOHELA as an arm of Missouri's state government, granting states standing to challenge such plans.

Attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma joined Bailey in filing this latest suit.

In their argument, they stated: “Just last year, the Supreme Court struck down an attempt by the President to force teachers, truckers, and farmers to pay for the student loan debt of other Americans—to the enormous tune of $430 billion. In striking down that attempt, the Court declared that the President cannot ‘unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy.’ Undeterred, the President is at it again.”

They continued: “Yet again, the President is unilaterally trying to impose an extraordinarily expensive and controversial policy that he could not get through Congress. This latest attempt to sidestep the Constitution is only the most recent instance in a long but troubling pattern of relying on innocuous language from decades-old statutes to impose drastic policy changes on Americans without their consent.”

Links:

- The Eighth Circuit’s order

- The Eastern District of Missouri’s order

- The original lawsuit