U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocks Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan

The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri granted a temporary administrative stay on Oct. 21 preventing President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan from going into effect pending a ruling on an appeal issued by several red states.

“Appellants’ emergency motion for an administrative stay prohibiting the appellees from discharging any student loan debt under the Cancellation program until this Court rules on the appellants’ motion for an injunction pending appeal is granted,” the motion read. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre encouraged Americans in a press release that same day to continue to apply for student loan relief. 

[RELATED: BREAKING: Biden cancels $10k of students’ debt, extends loan freeze again]

“Tonight’s temporary order does not prevent borrowers from applying for student debt relief at studentaid.gov,” she said, “and we encourage eligible borrowers to join the nearly 22 million Americans whose information the Department of Education already has.”

The district court’s stay came on the heels of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey of the Eastern District of Missouri dismissing a lawsuit by six red states seeking to halt the President’s student loan forgiveness plan. 

Judge Autrey’s 19-page opinion argued that the court “lacks jurisdiction to hear this case.” The judge noted that although the lawsuit “present[s] important and significant challenges” to Biden’s plan the “current Plaintiffs are unable to proceed to the resolution of these challenges.”

[RELATED: WATCH: Students criticize Biden’s loan cancellation plan]

An appeal was filed hours later by attorneys as well as a request for an injunction that would prevent the Biden administration from distributing student loan forgiveness until the courts ruled on the appeal. 

The Biden administration has until 5 p.m. today to issue a formal response to the appeal and subsequently the plaintiffs have until Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. to reply to the defendants. 

This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly. 

Campus Reform contacted the White House for comment, but has not yet received a response. 

Follow @kliseanderson on Twitter.