JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has filed another lawsuit against the Biden-Harris Administration for a third time.
Bailey, along with a coalition of states, has filed the lawsuit against the Biden-Harris Administration's latest attempt to cancel student loans, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the administration's second attempt.
This marks the third time the administration has tried to implement a widespread student loan cancellation plan, despite previous legal defeats.
The lawsuit follows a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld a court order blocking the administration's second student loan cancellation effort.
Bailey criticized the administration's approach, accusing it of attempting to transfer the burden of student loans, particularly those associated with elite institutions, onto the American public.
"The Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to saddling working Americans with Ivy League debt, even if they have to break the law to do it," Bailey said in a provided statement. "Our latest lawsuit challenges their third and weakest attempt to mass-cancel student loans in the dark of night without letting Congress — or the public — know about it. That’s illegal."
He said the Biden-Harris administration is pursuing these actions without proper legal authority and is bypassing Congress.
"We successfully halted their first two illegal student loan cancellation schemes; I have no doubt we will secure yet another win to block the third one," Bailey said. "They may be throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, but my office is meeting them every step of the way."
The coalition of states involved in the lawsuit argue that the Secretary of Education is moving forward with the plan without public notice.
Documents obtained by the states suggest that federal contractors were instructed to begin loan cancellations as soon as Sept. 3, with some cancellations potentially starting on Sept. 7.
The states claim that the secretary's plan involves canceling hundreds of billions of dollars in loans, a move they argue is unlawful.
The states also highlight the financial impact of the plan, estimating its cost at $146.9 billion, alongside the $475 billion cost of the SAVE Plan, another student loan relief initiative. They argue that this latest effort is similar to the previous two cancellation attempts, which courts had already blocked.
Bailey’s prior challenges to the Biden Administration’s student loan cancellation plans were successful in court, with the Supreme Court siding with his arguments that the cancellations were unconstitutional.
Joining Bailey in this latest legal effort are the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota and Ohio.
The coalition remains determined to stop what they describe as an unlawful attempt to transfer wealth through student loan forgiveness.
"Through compulsory process at the end of August, the States have just obtained documents proving that the Secretary [of Education] is implementing this plan without publication and has been planning to do so since May," the states argue in the Sept. 3 complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. "The Secretary of Education (1) is unlawfully trying to mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars of loans, and (2) has quietly instructed federal contractors to ‘immediately’ begin cancellation as early as September 3, 2024 (but possibly beginning on September 7)."
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia case number: 2:24-cv-00103