President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program can take effect after a judge Wednesday lets a temporary restraining order on the plan expire.
It’s a minor victory for the Biden administration just weeks ahead of the presidential election. The lawsuit was brought by seven red-leaning states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio — against Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
US District Judge Randall Hall wrote in his order, filed in the Southern District of Georgia, that Georgia lacks standing to challenge the plan “because it failed to show an injury that is concrete, particularized, actual, or imminent.”
“Without standing, the Court finds it proper to dismiss Georgia as a party to the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and turns to Defendants’ arguments related to venue,” he wrote.
The judge also wrote that the court agrees with the federal government’s argument that the venue was improper.
“Without standing, Georgia cannot provide the proper venue for suit because a plaintiff that lacks standing cannot create venue where it would not otherwise exist,” he wrote.
The judge said that the “most equitable result” is to transfer the case to a district “in which venue is proper.” He wrote that he would transfer the case to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Last month, Hall had extended a temporary restraining order on the plan for an additional 14 days.
