Judge blocks rule to strip public service workers of student loan forgiveness

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from implementing a new rule ⁠stripping public service workers of eligibility for federal student loan forgiveness if it deems their employers to have a “substantial illegal purpose”.

US district judge ⁠Myong Joun in ⁠Boston sided ​with Democratic-led states, cities and non-profits that argued the US Department of Education’s rule would allow it to target groups supporting immigration rights, transgender ⁠healthcare and other causes the Trump administration disfavors, by disqualifying them from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

That program allows borrowers to have their federal ⁠student loans forgiven after 10 years working for government or non-profit employers. More than a million ​borrowers have received debt relief since Congress ‌established it in 2007.

Donald Trump ‌in a March 2025 executive order claimed the program has “misdirected tax dollars into activist organizations that not ‌only fail to serve the public interest, but actually harm our national security and American values”.

The US president’s order directed the education department to revise regulations governing the program to redefine what constitutes “public service” work to exclude organizations that engage in activities that have a “substantial illegal purpose”.

The education department did so with a final rule that it published in October ‌that defined “substantial illegal purpose” as covering activities that include aiding what it defines as illegal immigration, supporting terrorism, engaging in illegal discrimination or participating in the “chemical and surgical castration or mutilation ​of children”, which the sort of language the administration often uses when referring to gender affirming care for transgender minors.

The plaintiffs sued in November to have the rule blocked from taking effect on 1 July, saying it was clearly designed to target causes the administration disfavors and groups that support immigrants’ rights, transgender healthcare, diversity initiatives and political protest.

Their lawsuit argued that the law ⁠that created the forgiveness program did not grant the education department the discretion ​to create exceptions to ​eligibility for the program and that the ​agency lacked a rational basis for adopting the policy.

Tuesday’s ruling marked the ​second legal defeat ‌for the Trump administration’s efforts ​to remake the ​federal student loan system in the last week. On Wednesday, another judge in Washington DC barred the education department from implementing a new rule that would impose lower federal student loan limits for people pursuing graduate degrees in nursing and other healthcare-related fields.