A federal judge refused the U.S. Department of Education’s request for an 18-month extension to decide the remaining borrower-defense claims under the 2022 Sweet v. McMahon settlement, preserving an automatic-relief deadline for some applicants due Jan. 28. Judge William Alsup denied extensions for borrowers tied to 151 institutions the department had flagged for substantial misconduct; for other claimants he extended the deadline only to April 15. The ruling preserves a path to automatic cancellation of student debt for some groups and places new urgency on the Education Department to finalize decisions. The outcome could drive additional loan discharges, force renewed administrative workload for the agency, and prompt institutions implicated in presumptive-relief lists to prepare for reputational and financial fallout.