The U.S. Supreme Court has extended through Thursday a pause on lower courts’ orders that the Trump administration authorize a full month of benefits for a food assistance program that 1 in 8 Americans use to buy groceries.
A brief, unsigned order published Tuesday evening also said the full court would decide on the administration’s request to block court orders that the U.S. Department of Agriculture release full November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The case was presented to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who said she would have dismissed the case and denied the request for an administrative stay. Jackson was appointed to the high court by President Joe Biden.
The order adds another wrinkle to a case that was already the object of a weekslong tug-of-war over how the program should operate during the government shutdown.
The shutdown could end before the stay expires. The U.S. Senate passed a bill Monday to reopen the government, and the House is expected to pass it Wednesday. President Donald Trump has said he supports the measure and will likely sign it before the end of the day Thursday.
Trump and administration officials have maintained they were not authorized to release November SNAP benefits during the shutdown.
A Rhode Island federal judge ordered the USDA on Thursday to release full benefits for November. The department sent states a memo authorizing those payments Friday morning, then appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday evening to have the district court’s order overturned.
At the same time, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s order.
In the face of often contradicting administrative guidance and court orders, some states began processing full benefits for November, while others have yet to release them. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore last week authorized up to $62 million in state funds to pay for whatever portion of November SNAP benefits the federal government does not cover for the month.
The off-and-on freeze of benefits for the SNAP program, which serves about 42 million people, was among the most consequential effects of the record-setting shutdown.
Lawmakers, advocates and judges all repeatedly called for urgency to restore the program to keep Americans from going hungry. Yet the dizzying back-and-forth continued, often leaving both states and families at a loss.
Ashley Murray contributed to this reporting.
This article was first published on News From the States and republished here under a Creative Commons License.
