The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to block a lower-court order that had required restoring full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the federal government shutdown, even as some states had already started issuing full payments to recipients.
Last Thursday U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. ordered the federal government to resume full SNAP benefits, criticizing officials for initially making only partial payments and saying that decision risked “needless suffering” and may have been delayed for “political reasons.” After that ruling, a growing number of states — including California, Oregon, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Connecticut — began notifying residents that full benefits would be loaded onto their EBT cards; some recipients reported finding the money on their cards Friday morning.
Late Friday, however, the Supreme Court granted the administration a temporary stay of the district court order while appeals proceed, giving a lower appeals court more time to consider whether the pause should continue. Earlier the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit declined an immediate administrative stay but said it would take up the request and decide quickly.
The sequence has created confusion because the administration also told states on Friday that it was sending money to fully fund SNAP as it appealed the ruling. Under the Supreme Court action, though, states must for now revert to issuing the partial SNAP payments the administration had directed earlier.
Federal officials say they lacked sufficient emergency funds to cover full SNAP payments because of the continuing shutdown and have argued that Congress must appropriate additional money. In court papers the government contended there is “no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” warning that moving money to cover SNAP could harm other child nutrition programs.
Earlier this week the Agriculture Department moved about $4 billion from a contingency fund to help SNAP — roughly half the program’s typical monthly cost — and instructed states to recalculate benefits for partial payments, a complex process some state agencies said could take weeks.
Nearly 42 million people rely on SNAP nationwide, including many extremely low-income families with children, seniors and people with disabilities. With SNAP temporarily unfunded since about a week ago as the shutdown extended into its second month, states, food banks and community groups have been scrambling to fill gaps through donations and other emergency assistance.
Anti-hunger advocates welcomed Judge McConnell’s order to restore full benefits. “The Trump administration all along had both the power and the authority to ensure that SNAP benefits continued uninterrupted but chose not to act until a court order forced it to do so,” said Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center.
The legal fight is ongoing and could affect whether millions receive full November benefits. This is a developing story and may be updated.