The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration's emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states already have received the funds. A judge had given the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, per the AP. But the administration asked an appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund, and instead allow it to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.
After a Boston appeals court declined to immediately intervene, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued an order late Friday pausing the requirement to distribute full SNAP payments until the appeals court rules on whether to issue a more lasting pause. Jackson handles emergency matters from Massachusetts. Her order will remain in place until 48 hours after the appeals court rules, giving the administration time to return to the Supreme Court if the appeals court refuses to step in. The food program serves about 1 in 8 Americans, mostly with lower incomes.
Officials in more than six states confirmed that some SNAP recipients already were issued full November payments on Friday. Trump's administration told the Supreme Court that the fast-acting states were "trying to seize what they could of the agency's finite set of remaining funds, before any appeal could even be filed, and to the detriment of other States' allotments." "Once those billions are out the door, there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds," Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the court filing. The court wrangling prolonged weeks of uncertainty for Americans with lower incomes. More here.
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