A federal judge in Texas declared on Thursday that President Joe Biden's proposal to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt is unconstitutional and should be overturned, giving a victory to conservative opponents of the initiative.
A lawsuit supported by the Job Creators Network Foundation on behalf of two debtors was decided by Fort Worth district judge Mark Pittman, who was nominated by former Republican president Donald Trump.
A St. Louis appeals court had already temporarily halted the debt relief plan as it evaluated a request to do so from six Republican-led states who wanted to forbid it while they appealed the decision to dismiss their own complaint.
Several lawsuits against Biden's proposal have been filed by conservative state attorneys general and legal organisations, but the plaintiffs had difficulty proving their case in court before Thursday.
Pittman said in a 26-page statement that the Biden administration depended on the HEROES Act, which offers loan help to military people, to pass the aid programme. The $400 billion loan forgiveness programme for students was not approved by him.
Pittman said, "The Program is Consequently an Unconstitutional Exercise of the Legislative Power of Congress and Should Be Struck Down."
Requests for comments were not immediately answered by the White House or the plaintiffs' representatives.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in September that more than 40 million Americans may benefit from debt forgiveness, which would erase nearly $430 billion of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding student debt.
The idea, which was unveiled in August, calls for up to $10,000 in student loan debt to be forgiven for people making less than $125,000 annually, or $250,000 for married couples. Up to $20,000 of student loan debt will be forgiven for those who received Pell Grants, which were designed to help low-income college students.
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