The Supreme Court on Wednesday kept on hold a plan by President Biden to reduce student loan monthly payments for millions of borrowers and cancel loans after they have been paid on for 20 years.
In a brief order with no dissents, the justices denied an emergency appeal from the administration and said it would wait for a further ruling from a U.S. appeals court in St. Louis, which blocked Biden's plan from taking effect.
"The court expects that the court of appeals will render its decision with appropriate dispatch," the order said.
The judgment is at least a temporary setback for the administration and signals the court's conservatives doubt Biden's claim that the president can cut student debt by hundreds of billions.
Republican attorneys general from Missouri and 10 other states had sued to block Biden's latest plan, arguing it was extraordinarily costly and went beyond what the law allowed.
In June, Kansas and Missouri district judges ruled for them. A nationwide ruling from the 8th Circuit Court in St. Louis in early August barred the Education secretary from "forgive approximately $475 billion in federal-student-loan debt."
Two weeks ago, Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar urged the high court to lift that order or to narrow its scope.