The high-stakes legal battle over food assistance during the government shutdown took a dramatic turn late Friday, as Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily blocked an order that required the Trump administration to make full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments for November by the end of the day.
Justice Jackson’s order imposes an administrative stay on some of the required payments until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit can rule on the administration’s motion to fully block the lower court order pending appeal.
This provides a temporary reprieve for the administration in the contentious funding dispute.
“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 wrote on X.
The Legal Showdown
The legal fight stems from the government shutdown, which has stretched into its sixth week and caused a lapse in SNAP funding for approximately 42 million people.
- Initial Ruling: U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island initially ruled the administration had to, at minimum, use a $5 billion SNAP contingency fund, calling the administration’s decision to offer only partial payments “arbitrary and capricious.”
- Second Ruling: Facing potential weekslong delays due to necessary recalculations for partial payments, Judge McConnell ruled on Thursday that the administration needed to move roughly $4 billion from child nutrition programs to cover the remaining gap for the full November payments, setting a Friday deadline.
The administration quickly appealed this decision, arguing it was an unlawful overreach.
Administration Appeals to Supreme Court
The Trump administration took the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court late Friday after a three-judge panel on the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals had declined to immediately intervene earlier in the evening.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the lower ruling would “metastasize and sow further shutdown chaos” and force the administration to “starve Peter to feed Paul, by gambling school lunches tomorrow in exchange for more SNAP money today.”
The administration contends that redirecting funds from one fully-funded child nutrition program to cover the SNAP gap violates the separation of powers.
Justice Jackson, who handles emergency appeals from the First Circuit, noted the stay was needed “to facilitate the First Circuit’s expeditious resolution of the pending stay motion,” and stressed that the administrative stay does not reflect a ruling on the underlying legal merits of the case.
Confusion in the States
Despite the administration’s appeal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had already sent a letter to regional SNAP directors earlier Friday indicating it was working to comply with Judge McConnell’s order and process the full payments.
As a result of the rapid legal back-and-forth, some states had already begun distributing full November benefits to recipients on Friday, creating a patchwork of access across the country. Justice Jackson’s order is expected to prevent other states from initiating full payments while the temporary block is in effect.
Cities, churches, and nonprofits that sued the administration argued that Judge McConnell’s order should stand, claiming the administration’s decision to make only partial payments despite expected “weeks or months of delays was arbitrary.”
The focus now shifts back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which is expected to rule on the administration’s request for a longer stay of the payment requirement as the government shutdown continues to impact crucial federal programs.
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