The filing came after one federal appeals court paused consideration of the case because another federal appeals court blocked the plan.
President Joe Biden asked the Supreme Court on Aug. 23 to reinstate a $475 billion student loan relief plan two weeks after an appeals court blocked the program.
The governmentâs emergency application in the heavily litigated case was filed on Aug. 13 after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Aug. 9 temporarily paused the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan while the litigation over it continues. The case before the Supreme Court is known as Biden v. Missouri.
The SAVE plan that U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona first proposed in August 2022 would reduce monthly payments for millions of eligible borrowers and accelerate loan forgiveness for others. A reported 8 million borrowers have signed up for the program.
The SAVE plan wasnât yet finalized in June 2023 when the Supreme Court struck down the federal governmentâs previous $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan in Biden v. Nebraska.
The Eighth Circuit found that Missouri and six other states challenging the plan would probably be able to prove that the plan violates the major questions doctrine. The doctrine requires courts to presume that Congress doesnât delegate important policy questions to government agencies.
The circuit courtâs sweeping, nationwide injunction temporarily prevents the federal government from forgiving principal or interest on outstanding student loans, blocks a provision halting interest from being calculated on loans, and pauses a provision allowing borrowers to make very low or zero monthly payments geared to income.
The Eighth Circuitâs order conflicted in part with a June 30 order by the 10th Circuit in Alaska v. U.S. Department of Education that temporarily allowed repayments geared to income to begin.
The Eighth Circuitâs injunction âalready nullifiedâ the 10th Circuitâs order and gave the plaintiffs the relief they wanted, said the brief that was presented to the Supreme Court by U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.
The Eighth Circuitâs order halted consideration of the issues at hand by other courts, and âthat is not how the judicial process is supposed to work.â
âOne circuit should not be able to inhibit the development of âthoughtful precedent at the circuit levelâ by issuing an injunction with universal reach in circumstances where more tailored relief would fully redress the plaintiffsâ asserted injury,ââ the brief said, citing a prior Supreme Court ruling.
Nationwide, or universal, injunctions, in which a court issues an injunction beyond the scope of the case before it, have been controversial in legal circles in recent years.
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas have criticized nationwide injunctions.
The brief continued, âTo put this litigation back on a normal track in both circuits, this Court should vacate, or at a minimum narrow, the Eighth Circuitâs universal injunction.â
But if the Supreme Court is unwilling to do this, it should treat the application as a petition for certiorari, or review, and schedule oral arguments in Biden v. Missouri and fast-track the case, the brief said.
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey but did not receive a reply by publication time.
The Supreme Court is in recess for the summer, but the governmentâs application is currently pending on the courtâs emergency docket.
The justices could issue a ruling at any time.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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