Supreme Court Will Hear Second Case On Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness

The Biden Administration asked the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit from a conservative group challenging the White House’s student loan forgiveness, after federal district and appeals courts ruled against the policy and blocked debt relief from being issued to borrowers.

The Supreme Court had already decided to hear a different student loan forgiveness case brought by several states that also led to the policy being blocked earlier in December, and announced Monday it will hear oral arguments in this case as well.

Both cases will be argued in February—though it’s still unclear if they’ll take place in a single hearing or be heard separately—and the court will issue a final decision on both cases by the time its term ends in June.

That means a final decision on the program’s fate will come by then, whereas if the Supreme Court hadn’t taken up the second case, the litigation might have stretched on for even longer in lower courts.

The Biden Administration also asked the Supreme Court to lift the block on the student loan forgiveness program immediately before issuing its final ruling, but the court declined to do so, saying it’s deferring its decision on putting the policy back into effect until after oral arguments (as it said in the other case as well).

The Supreme Court will have to side with the Biden Administration in both cases for student loan forgiveness to take effect and loans to be discharged to borrowers.