The U.S. Supreme Court approved the Trump administration’s request to temporarily withhold around $4 billion necessary to fully support a food assistance program for 42 million low-income Americans amidst the ongoing federal government shutdown. The decision, called an administrative stay, grants a lower court more time to review the administration’s formal plea to only partially finance the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for November, also known as food stamps. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, issuing the stay, set it to lapse in two days.
Earlier, the administration urgently asked the justices to pause a judge’s ruling from Rhode Island that mandated full funding of the program by Friday. The program typically costs between $8.5 billion to $9 billion per month. U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s recent order directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to utilize emergency SNAP funding to cover part of this month’s expenses and make up the balance from a different program with $23.35 billion in funding supporting child nutrition, derived from tariffs.
McConnell, appointed by former President Barack Obama, accused the Trump administration of withholding SNAP benefits for political motives. The ruling favored a coalition of challengers, including cities and non-profits represented by the legal group Democracy Forward, leading the administration to seek a halt to the order from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The 1st Circuit rejected the administration’s request to pause McConnell’s decision, prompting the Department of Justice to urgently seek intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court.