Biden's Education Department just shut the door on new student-loan relief applications following a court ruling

• Biden's Education Department has stopped accepting applications for student-loan forgiveness.
• The announcement came after a US District judge ruled on Thursday that the debt relief program was illegal.
• The administration wrote on the application page that it is "seeking to overturn those orders."

The Biden administration is no longer accepting applications as part of the student loan forgiveness program following a court order that struck down the plan on Thursday evening.

"Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief program," according to a note on the forgiveness application page. "As a result, at this time, we are not accepting applications. We are seeking to overturn those orders."

On Thursday, US District Judge Mark Pittman — appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2019 — in the Northern District of Texas Court ruled that Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year is illegal.

This ruling is the first of its kind so far amid at least five other major conservative lawsuits that are also attempting to block student-loan forgiveness. The Education Department said in a statement following the ruling that the Department of Justice has filed an appeal.

US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement today: "We believe strongly that the Biden-Harris Student Debt Relief Plan is lawful and necessary to give borrowers and working families breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and to ensure they succeed when repayment restarts."

Cardona added: "Amidst efforts to block our debt relief program, we are not standing down."

Elaine Parker, president of the Job Creators Network Foundation which called Biden's plan "irrational, arbitrary and unfair," said in a statement following the judge's ruling: "The court has correctly ruled in favor of our motion and deemed the Biden student loan program illegal."

"The judge criticized the Biden Administration program, calling it 'one of the largest exercises of legislative power without congressional authority in the history of the United States.' This ruling protects the rule of law which requires all Americans to have their voices heard by their federal government," she added.