One of the goodies the Biden administration tried to use to tempt a segment of the Democrat base leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections was a fraudulent and clearly illegal student loan “forgiveness” scheme, the announcement of which we reported on in late August. But Biden’s plan started hitting major legal roadblocks, after the United States Supreme Court refused to get involved. The case was then swiftly handed back to the 8th Circuit, which “put an administrative stay in place, stopping Biden from moving forward with any cancellation of student debt,” as my colleague Bonchie wrote on October 21.

Now, there’s breaking news on a new ruling from the federal bench, which strikes down the student loan bailout, according to Fox Business:

A federal judge in Texas struck down President Biden’s student loan handout in a Thursday night ruling.

Biden’s plan, which aims to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients in college and up to $10,000 for others who borrowed using federal student loans.

The Texas judge, United States District Judge Mark Pittman, asserted in his decision that our nation “[is] not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,” pointing to the primacy of the Constitution and the proper roles of the branches of government:

“Whether the Program constitutes good public policy is not the role of this Court to determine. Still, no one can plausibly deny that it is either one of the largest delegations of legislative power to the executive branch, or one of the largest exercises of legislative power without congressional authority in the history of the United States,” United States District Judge Mark Pittman wrote.

“In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone. Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government…The Court is not blind to the current political division in our country. But it is fundamental to the survival of our Republic that the separation of powers as outlined in our Constitution be preserved. And having interpreted the HEROES Act, the Court holds that it does not provide ‘clear congressional authorization’ for the Program proposed by the Secretary.”

As this is breaking news, RedState will provide more details as they become available.