A federal judge in Missouri granted a temporary pause on Thursday of yet another plan by President Joe Biden to redistribute the student loan debt of 30 million borrowers after a judge in Georgia let the previous injunction expire.
Six conservative states got Georgia to pause the plan initially, but the judge there who originally granted the injunction decided that it didn't have standing to pursue the case there.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall agreed that Missouri does have standing, however, and U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp quickly stepped in to pause the plan before it could begin being implemented on Monday.
“This is yet another win for the American people,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement. “The Court rightfully recognized Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cannot saddle working Americans with Ivy League debt.”
The other states that joined the suit were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Ohio.
Biden latched onto student loan forgiveness as a way to get younger voters to vote for him, a moot point now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the candidate.
Of course, she will claim that she was every bit as involved as he was in the plan, but it hasn't achieved universal popularity given that many young people are deciding not to go to college due to inflation and better opportunities in the trades.
For someone who has $30 to $40,000 in student loan debt, the idea of loan forgiveness sounds really great, but nobody who goes straight to work after high school will be thrilled with the idea of paying off other people's college loans.
The courts have consistently pushed back on Biden's numerous student loan forgiveness programs, saving taxpayers billions of dollars while I'm sure some borrowers are disappointed to have to pay off their own loans.
The courts still have to make a final decision on this one, but for now, the status quo will continue.
