U.S. Judges Void Trump Student Loan Rule 1 Day Before Start

3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jul 1

Two federal judges blocked the Trump administration’s student loan forgiveness rule on Tuesday, stopping it a day before it was due to take effect.
The rulings said the Education Department lacked clear statutory authority to add an employer-disqualification test to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Judge Amir H. Ali in Washington and a Massachusetts judge sided with nonprofit and advocacy groups that argued the rule’s broad definitions would choke off their hiring pipeline and punish disfavored work.
Ali also pointed to the Supreme Court’s 2024 rollback of Chevron deference, which requires judges to interpret agency authority themselves rather than defer to reasonable agency readings.
The setback hits a March 2025 Trump executive-order push to reshape higher education, though the Education Department said it still backs the policy and is weighing next steps.