The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow the controversial student loan debt relief program to go into effect, amid legal challenges across the country.   

  The program promises to offer up to $20,000 in debt relief for millions of borrowers, but has been put on hold after lower courts blocked it nationwide.   

  About 26 million people had already applied to the program by the time a federal judge froze it on Nov. 10, prompting the government to stop accepting applications.  No debt has been written off so far.   

  An “erroneous order” from a federal appeals court, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the Supreme Court, “leaves millions of financially vulnerable borrowers in the lurch, uncertain about the size of their debt and unable to make financial decisions with an accurate understanding of their future.  repayment obligations.”   

  Government lawyers say President Joe Biden acted to address the financial damage of the pandemic and “smooth the transition to repayment” in order to provide targeted debt relief to some federal student loan borrowers hit by the pandemic.   

  Federal student loan payments are scheduled to resume in January after a multi-year pandemic hiatus.   

  The program is designed to help borrowers who are at the highest risk of delinquency or default.  Once debt relief begins, the plan will provide up to $10,000 in student loan debt relief to eligible borrowers with less than $125,000 ($250,000 per household).   

  In addition, borrowers who received a Pell grant can receive up to $20,000 in relief.   

  The authority exists under the Higher Education Opportunity for Students Act of 2003, or the HEROES Act, the administration says.  He argues that the law exempts the government from otherwise applicable procedural requirements, including notice-and-comment rulemaking.   

  “Because borrowers who default on their student loans face serious financial consequences — including wage garnishment, long-term credit damage, and ineligibility for federal benefits — Congress specifically authorized the Secretary to waive or modify any applicable statutory or regulatory provision, such as deems necessary to make sure borrowers affected by a national emergency are not worse off with respect to their student loans,” Prelogar wrote in Friday’s filing.   

  The dispute at issue is being brought by a group of states, led by Nebraska, that argue the student loan debt relief plan violates the separation of powers and the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that governs the process by which federal agencies issue regulations.   

  A district court ruled that the states did not have the legal right or “standing” to prevail, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, issuing a national injunction blocking the program.  It was based on the “irreversible impact” the debt cancellation would have and the fact that collection of student loan payments, as well as the accrual of interest on student loans, would otherwise be suspended while legal challenges arise.   

  A separate challenge is also making its way to the federal courts by two individual borrowers — Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor — who don’t qualify for full debt relief and who say they were denied a chance to comment on the Education Secretary’s decision to grant targeted students loan debt relief to some.   

  This story has been updated with additional details.