Supreme Court takes up ANOTHER case challenging Biden's massive student loans forgiveness plan

The Supreme Court  has agreed to hear arguments on a second case challenging President Biden's student loan forgiveness program after it was blocked in a lower court. 

Justices will consider the Biden administration's appeal of Texas Judge Mark Pittman's decision to put the program on hold after a challenge from a conservative advocacy group. 

Pittman's was one of two rulings that put the policy on pause.  

The Supreme Court had already decided to hear arguments for a different student loan forgiveness case brought forth by several other states that led to the policy being blocked in early December. 

The Biden administration had asked the high court to lift the injunction on the student loan forgiveness program. The Supreme Court denied the request, saying ti would defer the decision to put the policy back into effect until after oral arguments. 

The arguments in both cases will be heard in February, though it's still unclear whether they'll take place in a single hearing or be heard separately. The court will issue a final decision in both cases before the end of its term in June. 

The Supreme Court, whose justices are pictured, has agreed to hear the Biden administration's plan to forgive student loan forgiveness by executive order in February 2023. 

Biden has already extended the moratorium on loan payments until June 30, meaning borrowers will know for certain whether their loans will be forgiven by the time they have to start making payments again. 

Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student debt for those making up to $125,000 and up to $20,000 in debt for Pell Grant recipients. 

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business predicted in August the program would cost taxpayers about $600 billion. Around 43 million federal borrowers would be eligible for forgiveness. 

Trump-appointed Pittman ruled that the authority that Biden had overstepped his authority in using the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, which gives the Education secretary the authority to waive student debt in times of war or national emergency, to forgive debt after the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Texas lawsuit was filed by two borrowers who were partially or fully ineligible for the loan forgiveness and backed by the Job Creators Network Foundation, a group formed by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus.  

In a 26-page opinion, Pittman called Biden’s plan an 'unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power' and noted the program failed to go through standard regulatory processes. 

Student loan debt holders demonstrate outside the White House staff entrance in Washington, DC to demand that Biden cancel federal student loan debt

Last week President Biden said he was confident the Supreme Court would rule in his favor on the program. 

'We're confident we're right on the law and we think the court will probably come out the right position,' he said in an interview on the Ryan Cameron Uncensored radio show.