By Candace McDuffie
On average, Black college graduates possess $25,000 more in student loan debt than white college graduates. President Joe Biden has made several attempts to cancel student loan debt — which would have a significant impact on Black borrowers — but has not been able to because of opposition from the courts.
Things looked good for Biden’s plan for a moment — U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall allowed Republicans’ restraining order against the plan to expire Thursday (Oct. 3), which would’ve allowed it to go through, according to CNBC.
But then Hall moved the case to Missouri, where on Thursday evening a federal judge once again thwarted the president’s most recent plan which would have forgiven $73 billion in student loan debt held by around 27.6 million borrowers.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp — a Trump appointee — granted an injunction blocking the “mass canceling” of student loans and forgiving principal or interest under the plan pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
“Allowing Defendants to eliminate the student loan debt at issue here would prevent this Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court from reviewing this matter on the backend, allowing Defendants’ actions to evade review,” Schelp wrote in his decision.
In a statement provided by a spokesperson to Associated Press, the Education Department said they were disheartened by the ruling and insisted that Republican state officials want “to prevent millions of their own constituents from getting breathing room on their student loans.”
“We will continue to vigorously defend these proposals in court. We will not stop fighting to fix the broken student loan system and provide support and relief to borrowers across the country,” the department said.
Biden’s initiative has been on hold since September, when the six Republican led-states filed a lawsuit in Georgia claiming Biden had exceeded his legal authority.