US: Joe Biden asks Supreme Court to pause second ruling on student debt relief

US President Joe Biden has called on the Supreme Court to pause the ruling of another judge regarding the student debt relief plan. A judge ruled in a separate case that Biden’s plan to relieve borrowers of billions of dollars in student debt loans was unlawful.

The Biden administration Friday last week has asked the Supreme Court justices to put on hold another judge’s ruling on a separate case that found the program to be unlawful. The rulings in two challenges to the program were made against the administration by Republican-led states. The administration called on the justices to put a hold on Texas district judge Mark Pittman’s decision on the matter backed by a conservative advocacy group or to hear arguments on the merits of the case.

The request by the administration came a day after the high court heard the arguments made by the appeal of six Republican-led states. Pittman made his ruling back on November 10, and the St. Louis Court of Appeals issued an injunction on November 14, in the lawsuit by GOP-led states Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina finding the debt relief program unlawful and that the administration made an overreach in authority.

While the justices the previous day did not act on the US leader’s request to lift the injunction but fast-tracked the case for oral arguments in late February or early March.

During his 2020 campaign, Biden pledged to help former college students who still struggle with student loan debt. Republicans and conservative groups have opposed the plan that was put in place back in September this year, saying that it was unfair to those who have fully paid their loans or never went to college and that it would worsen inflation.

On the same day, Biden signed legislation that blocked a national railroad strike that could potentially devastate the country’s economy. The legislation passed the Senate Thursday on 80 to 15, imposing a contract deal that was brokered in September on a dozen unions that represent 115,000 workers that could have gone on strike on December 9.

However, the Senate failed to approve a provision that would provide rail workers with paid sick days.