Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily halted Order The Trump administration requires the full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) November payments to be made by Friday.
Jackson’s Order Payments are withheld until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rules on the administration’s motion to halt the order pending its appeal.
It does not reflect a ruling on the underlying legal merits of the case, but it does provide a temporary relief to the Trump administration, which first went to supreme court Friday evening.
“Given the First Circuit’s representations, an administrative stay is needed to facilitate expeditious resolution of the First Circuit’s pending stay motion,” Jackson wrote.
Jackson ruled on the urgent request because she handles emergency appeals arising from the First Circuit by default.
SNAP provides grocery assistance to about 42 million people, and the program’s funding lapse has become one of those The clearest signs of a government shutdown As it expands to the sixth week.
Cities and private groups sued the administration as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced benefits would be cut starting in November, the first time the program has been completely shut down.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell initially ruled that the administration needed to deplete at least $5 billion of the SNAP contingency fund, and rejected the argument that it was only for hurricanes and other unexpected emergencies.
But that is not enough to cover all of November’s benefits, and McConnell said partial payments would only be legal if they could be provided quickly. States and the Trump administration have acknowledged that the recount could be delayed by several weeks.
So on Thursday, McConnell ruled that the administration needed to transfer nearly $4 billion from child nutrition programs to make up the remaining gap for November payments, prompting a last-minute appeal from the administration before the Friday deadline.
Solicitor General D. John Sawyer wrote of the lower ruling, “If allowed to stand, this decision would be transformative and create further shutdown chaos.”
A three-judge panel on the First Circuit declined to immediately intervene early Friday evening.
By the time the Administration reached the Supreme Court, USDA had already sent a letter to regional SNAP directorsThis shows that he was working to comply and process the payments.
