Biden Admin Fires Back at Texas Ruling That Stops Student Loan Relief Plan, Blames Republican-Backed Opponents

Conservative critics of President Joe Biden's scheme to pardon hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt scored a win on Thursday when a federal court in Texas ruled that the program was illegal.

In his decision in favor of two borrowers who were supported by a conservative advocacy organization, US District Judge Mark Pittman, a Trump appointee in Fort Worth, declared the Joe Biden Student Loan Forgiveness an "unconstitutional exercise of Congress's legislative power," according to Reuters.

The St. Louis-based 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals had previously provisionally halted the debt relief proposal while it considered a request by six Republican-led states to prohibit it while they sought the dismissal of their complaint.

The decision, which came out 2022 US Midterm Elections week, was made in a case brought by two debtors who were either not eligible for any loan forgiveness under Biden's scheme or who were ineligible for it in full.

White House Fires Back

The US Department of Justice filed an appeal of the decision right away. The White House issued a statement from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressing the administration's vehement opposition to the ruling.

Jean-Pierre remarked that the US Department of Education have already provided pertinent information to the 26 million individuals "to be considered for debt relief - 16 million of whom have already been approved for relief - the Department will hold onto their information so it can quickly process their relief once we prevail in court," as per a CNN report.

Since the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stopped the program on October 21, the Biden administration has been unable to cancel any debt.

On Thursday, the court determined that one of the plaintiffs in the case could not get debt relief under the federal student loan forgiveness program because her debts are not owned by the federal government and that the other plaintiff may receive debt relief only up to the amount of $10,000 since he did not earn a Pell grant.

The plaintiffs oppose the Joe Biden Student Loan Forgiveness regulations because the administration didn't follow the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment rulemaking procedure.

The borrowers had the support of the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative lobbying organization established by Bernie Marcus, one of Home Depot's co-founders and a key Donald Trump backer.

Judge Mark Pittman of the US District Court ruled Thursday night that it is not the court's responsibility to determine what "constitutes good public policy," but rather whether or not Biden's proposal is too significant to be made without the approval of the US Congress.

Pittman noted: "In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone. Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government."

The judge added that the court is aware of the political polarization that exists in the country. However, it is essential to the continued existence of our Republic that "the separation of powers as established in our Constitution be preserved."

Biden's Scheme Won't Solve Root of The Problem, Critics Say

Fox News Digital previously reported on Elaine Parker, president of the plaintiff organization in the case, the Job Creators Network Foundation, discussing the verdict on Thursday.

Parker noted that even if Joe Biden Student Loan Forgiveness scheme pushed through, it would not solve the underlying issue of skyrocketing tuition fees at over-bloated universities that sit on "$700 billion in endowments" while raising tuition at rates much above inflation.

The Joe Biden administration faces many more legal challenges to the scheme. Two petitions to challenge the program were denied by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, according to reports.

Joe Biden Student Loan Forgiveness would cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year in 2020 or 2021, and up to $20,000 for students making less than $250,000 per year as a married couple or head of household.

Any student who has borrowed federally and earned a federal Pell grant while attending college may be entitled to up to $20,000.

Since March 2020, federal student loan repayment has been suspended as part of a pandemic relief program. They will likely continue in January.