News Releases

Attorney General Griffin Applauds Success in Suit He Co-Led After Court Blocks Unlawful Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Griffin: ‘I will continue to…ensure that hardworking Americans aren’t stuck with the bill for loans they didn’t take out’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful student loan forgiveness program:

“The Eighth Circuit has once again blocked the Biden-Harris administration from implementing a blatantly illegal program that sought to erase student loans with no regard for the cost to taxpayers. The Biden-Harris administration is now 0-3 in its attempts to bypass Congress’s authority and unlawfully forgive student debt to score political points with the electorate.

“If the Biden-Harris administration continues to thwart the Constitution, I will continue to sue them and ensure that hardworking Americans aren’t stuck with the bill for loans that aren’t theirs.”

Griffin co-led the lawsuit challenging the unlawful program with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. They were joined in the suit by the attorneys general of Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma. The per curiam order applies nationwide.

To read a copy of the court’s ruling, click here.

To download a PDF copy of this release, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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