The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling ordering the Trump administration to fully fund food benefits for millions of hungry Americans, throwing the key program into further chaos as the government shutdown drags on.
Further muddying the waters, the Department of Agriculture — or USDA — that administers the aid told states on Saturday that had begun distributing it “to immediately undo any steps taken” to issue full benefits for November. USDA had told states just the day before they could begin distributing full benefits.
The legal and political wrangling leaves 42 million Americans who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, hanging as the government shutdown that sparked the limbo moves into its sixth week.
The Trump administration took its case that SNAP benefits should not be fully paid for November to the Supreme Court on Friday night, winning a stay as the issue plays out in the lower courts.
In a two-page order, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the administration a temporary reprieve. A district court had earlier ordered they be paid by the end of Friday.
The stay will last for 48 hours after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit resolves the administration’s request for a longer-term block as its appeal moves through that court. Jackson also noted her expectation for the First Circuit to act with “dispatch.”
“The Supreme Court just granted our administrative stay in this case. Our attorneys will not stop fighting, day and night, to defend and advance President Trump’s agenda,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted to X.
The Trump Administration has argued it can’t fund the program for November because of the government shutdown. After being ordered to act by a district judge, the administration asked the First Circuit Court of Appeals to block that order. The appeals court declined to immediately halt the ruling while it considers the appeal, prompting the administration to ask the Supreme Court to block it.
“As explained, the government will be forced to make an irretrievable transfer of billions of dollars by the end of today, absent this Court’s intervention,” wrote U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer to the Supreme Court. “And the harms of that decision will vest this evening, regardless of what this Court ultimately does with respect to the flawed decisions below. An administrative stay is badly needed.”
USDA had moved on Friday to distribute the November aid and some states — including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts — said they would begin to do so.
In a statement earlier Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she had directed state agencies to provide “full federal SNAP benefits for November,” and that she expected the first wave of New Yorkers to have access to those benefits this weekend. New Jersey announced Friday it has already issued full SNAP benefits to eligible residents on the basis of Thursday’s lower court ruling. People have gone without for too long. “People have gone without for too long,” McConnell told government lawyers at a hearing Thursday. “Not making payments to them for even another day is simply unacceptable.” McConnell strongly rebuked the administration for ignoring his original order to restart payments to recipients, noting they include 16 million children at risk of going hungry. New Jersey announced Friday it has already issued full SNAP benefits to eligible residents on the basis of Thursday’s lower court ruling.
Lisa Rubin is an MS NOW legal correspondent and a former litigator. Previously, she was the off-air legal analyst for “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Alex Wagner Tonight.”
Fallon Gallagher is a legal affairs reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
