BUFFALO, N.Y. — A federal judge in Texas has ruled President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan unconstitutional.
The judge made the ruling after two borrowers brought a lawsuit forward, claiming the president did not get public input on the plan.
Borrowers are already feeling the effects of that federal judge's decision. The Department of Education has stopped accepting applications for the student loan forgiveness program.
Now the Department of Justice has filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and local attorney Barry Covert doesn't expect it to end there.
"Eventually it will likely end up in front of the Supreme Court," Covert said.
So here's both sides of the argument.
The two borrowers who filed the lawsuit argue President Biden should have held a public comment period and that he can only enact something called the HEROES Act for those in the service.
Covert says it's a law allowing the president to forgive debt during times of war or crisis.
The Biden Administration is arguing it can forgive debt for anyone under the law.
Justice Amy Coney-Barrett has already turned down other challenges to the president's forgiveness plan, arguing other courts don't have a high enough rank to block it.
Covert says another lawsuit in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has blocked the president from forgiving debt right away, will also likely end up in front of the justices.
"One of the purposes of the Supreme Court taking a look at cases is to try to quiet differing opinions that different courts may give. The disparity of rulings isn't good for the judicial system," Covert said.
However, he says the Supreme Court tends to take very few cases.
It's one of the reasons University at Buffalo law professor James Gardner isn't sure whether the justices will touch it.
"Whether they have an interest in this is very hard to predict," Gardner said.
There's also no way to know how they'll rule.
Meanwhile, student loan payments resume on January 1, and law experts don't think it'll be anytime soon that borrowers will get the relief they've been hoping will lower payments or cancel their debt altogether.
"The bad news is that it could well be a year, two years before we know the final determination from the courts. Now if the Supreme Court wants to take the case, they could put it on next year's docket. We could have a decision by next summer but that would be very premature," Covert said.