A Federal court has temporarily blocked student loan forgiveness

The attacks on Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness plan were dealt back to back losses on Thursday when Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett decided not to take on a case from a Wisconsin taxpayers association trying to block the forgiveness and Judge Henry Autrey, the judge overseeing the States’ legal challenge, dismissed the case on the basis that the states did not have standing on the issue.

The decision was almost immediately appealed and then late on Friday the 7th circuit appeals court temporarily blocked any forgiveness from taking place, which might have started being discharged as early as Sunday Oct 23rd.

The court scheduled arguments to be heard Monday Oct. 24th and Tuesday Oct. 25th so the results of this block might be decided at that point, at least at the current appeals court level. It seems likely that whatever decision comes out will be appealed quickly, although if the court removes the block the administration could start forgiving debt immediately. And any debt that is discharged is likely to stay discharged, whatever any continued appeals court rules. But that kind of forgiveness, forgiveness only for those who had the time to pay attention, will likely go disproportionately to less poor and more white recipients.

You can still apply to have up to $20,000 in student loans forgiven right here, and doing that sooner rather than later is an especially good idea right now since it will make it more likely that your loans are forgiven.