The Biden administration has filed a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court defending its plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt.
More than 26 million people have already applied for the relief, and 16 million have been approved. The Education Department stopped processing applications after a federal judge in Texas struck down the plan.
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The Biden administration submitted arguments late Wednesday and argued that the challenges to the plan were brought by parties that failed to how harm from the policy, according to NBC News.
Attorneys for the department also denied the claim that the policy was an overstep in Biden’s authority. It points to the Heroes Act of 2003, which grants the U.S. secretary of education the authority to waive regulations related to student loans during national emergencies.
The country has been operating under an emergency declaration due to COVID since March 2020.
The Supreme Court has agreed to take the case and the justices will hear oral arguments on Feb. 28. A final answer from the Supreme Court is expected by early summer.
The pause on federal student loan payments has been extended until 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved. If the lawsuit has not been resolved by June 30, payments would resume 60 days after that.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued the following statement after the legal brief was filed with the Supreme Court:
“The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to fighting to deliver essential student debt relief to tens of millions of Americans. As part of this commitment, today the Departments of Education and Justice filed a legal brief with the Supreme Court explaining our legal authority under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act to carry out our program of one-time, targeted debt relief.
“We remain confident in our legal authority to adopt this program that will ensure the financial harms caused by the pandemic don’t drive borrowers into delinquency and default. We are unapologetically committed to helping borrowers recover from the pandemic and providing working families with the breathing room they need to prepare for student loan payments to resume.
“As previously announced, student loan payments and interests will remain paused until the Supreme Court resolves the case because it would be deeply unfair to ask borrowers to pay debt they wouldn’t have to pay, were it not for meritless lawsuits.”