The Final SAVE Plan Lawsuit Is Fully Briefed — Here’s When Borrowers Could Get An Answer

The U.S. Department of Education filed its reply brief in support of its motion to dismiss in Havens v. U.S. Department of Education on August 17, 2026, closing out the briefing schedule in the last lawsuit still trying to revive REPAYE for roughly 7 million former SAVE borrowers. The filing asks the judge to dismiss the case.Hours earlier, the Education Department’s lawyers filed a Notice of Corrected Filings walking back a factual claim the agency made on July 29. In an earlier brief, the Department told the court that four of five non-party borrowers who submitted declarations “most recently reported incomes of $0,” which would mean their payments would be $0 under any plan and no irreparable harm existed.Those borrowers filed counter-declarations on August 7 saying they had reported real income, either directly or through the IRS. The agency investigated, found the borrowers were right, and blamed “technical errors” with its National Student Loan Data System database. It filed corrected versions of both the brief and apologized. Even so, the agency’s core position that the case should be tossed has not changed.