Court temporarily blocks Biden’s student loan forgiveness

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A federal appeals court has issued a stay temporarily blocking President Joe Biden’s plans to forgive student loan debt. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay Friday evening.

Attorneys for six Republican-led states including Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider their effort to block the Biden administration’s program to forgive billions of dollars in student loan debt.

It’s unclear what the decision means for the 22 million borrowers who already applied for the relief.

The Biden administration had promised not to clear any debt before Oct. 23 as it battled the legal challenges, but the soonest it was expected to begin erasing debt was mid-November.