President Joe Biden 's costly plan to assist millions of student loan borrowers is much more likely to face Supreme Court scrutiny after a Monday federal appeals court decision marked the latest blow to the debt forgiveness program.
A three-judge panel on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis issued a preliminary injunction and blocked the program in one of several cases challenging the loan relief plan, which is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost nearly $400 billion over the next three decades.
"It's still temporary," financial aid and student loan researcher Mark Kantrowitz told the Washington Examiner, adding that the plan will remain frozen "until the appeals court rules or until it's appealed to the Supreme Court." The plan was temporarily halted on Oct. 21, before the appeals court extended the hold this week until the issue is resolved in court.
