The Supreme Court heard Biden's loan forgiveness case today. Here's when we expect the court to rule on student loans.

• The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday on President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.
• The Biden administration launched the plan last August and was quickly sued over it.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments on two challenges to President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.

Biden's plan, which would cancel $20,000 in student debt for Pell Grant recipients earning under $125,000 a year, and up to $10,000 for other federal borrowers, was announced last summer and faced immediate backlash from Republicans and conservatives. Both cases the Supreme Court heard on Tuesday are seeking to permanently block the plan from taking effect.

Here's how the legal challenges to Biden's student debt cancellation plan unfolded:

Biden enacted his long-promised student loan forgiveness plan last August

Biden touted the issue of student-loan forgiveness on the 2020 campaign trail and spent much of his first year and a half in office floating various proposals and extending the federal pause on student loan payments that started at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It wasn't until last August when Biden announced he would use the HEROES Act of 2003 to enact his long-promised student loan forgiveness plan. The HEROES Act gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, like COVID-19.

Biden's use of the HEROES Act to enact broad student loan forgiveness plan sparked controversy.

Challengers to Biden's plan argue that the plan is an example of executive overreach and an abuse of the HEROES Act, insisting such debt relief requires congressional approval. Biden's supporters disagree, arguing that the HEROES Act justifies the plan and that the financial harms borrowers have suffered amid the COVID-19 pandemic justify student-debt relief.

Immediately, lawsuits seeking to block Biden's plan began taking shape

Barely a month after Biden announced his student loan forgiveness plan, the lawsuits began.

Six GOP-led states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina, jointly sued the Biden administration, alleging the plan would damage their tax revenues, harm student-loan company MOHELA, and exceed Biden's authority as president. The states argue that such a plan cannot be accomplished by executive authority, and must go through Congress.

Two student-loan borrowers backed by the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative nonprofit, also sued the Biden administration. The plaintiffs said they were excluded from some of the relief provided in Biden's plan, and alleged that the Biden administration deprived them of their procedural rights by failing to adequately consult the public on the plan before implementing it.

Millions began applying for student-debt relief

Borrowers began applying for student-debt relief online on October 14. Within just a few weeks, the Biden administration announced that more than 26 million borrowers had applied and that the Education Department had approved 16 million of them.

Multiple federal judges blocked Biden's plan from taking effect, and the Supreme Court announced it would hear oral arguments on the 2 cases

On October 21, a federal appeals court blocked Biden's program, preventing the Biden administration from implementing any debt relief to applicants. The court permitted borrowers to continue applying for relief.

On November 10, a federal judge in Texas blocked Biden's plan from taking effect, preventing the administration from accepting new applications from borrowers.

In December, the Supreme Court announced it would hear oral arguments on both major challengers to Biden's plan: Biden v. Nebraska, and Department of Education v. Brown.

The Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of Biden's plan during oral arguments

The Supreme Court justices heard lengthy oral arguments on Tuesday, with many of the conservative justices questioning whether the student loan forgiveness program was an executive overreach.

Chief Justice John Roberts repeatedly questioned the program's costs and the role of Congress in making such a decision. Justice Neil Gorsuch also questioned whether Biden's plan was fair to those who have either paid off all their student loans or who never took out student loans to begin with.

US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that the Biden administration acted within its power when it implemented the student-debt relief plan to assist the millions of Americans financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Supreme Court will likely issue a ruling on student loan forgiveness by the end of June

Though it's always difficult to predict exactly when the Supreme Court will release a decision, the justices will rule on student loan debt relief at some point before the end of the court's session, typically the last week of June.