Supreme Court Extends Pause on SNAP Payments

The Supreme Court extended a block until Thursday night on lower court orders requiring the Trump administration to make full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments during the government shutdown.

It does not reflect a decision on the underlying legal merits of the case, but it keeps on hold November food stamps for roughly 42 million recipients for another two days as the House prepares to vote on the funding package that recently cleared the Senate.

The package would reopen the government and restore SNAP, resolving the legal battle without the need for the Supreme Court to intervene further.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of former President Biden, publicly dissented and voted to resume the payments.

She handles emergency matters arising from Rhode Island by default and had initially received the Trump administration’s appeal. On Friday, Jackson temporarily halted the SNAP payments until Tuesday night, but she rejected her colleagues’ decision to extend the pause until later this week.

Neither Jackson nor the majority explained their reasoning.

“Literally at the eleventh hour, those orders inject the federal courts into the political branches’ closing efforts to end this shutdown,” the Justice Department wrote of the lower court rulings.

“But the answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority. The only way to end this crisis—which the Executive is adamant to end—is for Congress to reopen the government,” the Justice Department continued.

A lapse in SNAP benefits has become one of the most tangible effects of the 42-day government shutdown, which has left federal employees without paychecks and sparked increasing flight delays across the country.

The Trump administration initially planned to completely cut off SNAP for November as the shutdown dragged on, arguing that the lapse in appropriations effectively meant there was no program.

It sparked several legal challenges from Democratic-led states and cities, private groups and SNAP recipients who argue federal law compels the benefits to keep flowing.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell, an appointee of former President Obama who serves in Rhode Island, ruled the administration was acting unlawfully and needed to deplete a $5 billion SNAP contingency fund. It’s not enough to cover the November payments, expected to cost nearly $9 billion.

McConnell ruled the administration either needed to expeditiously get partial payments out or use its discretion to tap child nutrition funds to fill the gap. After the administration tried partial payments but warned of weeks-long delays, the judge said the additional funds needed to be tapped.

It sparked a fast-moving appeal from the Trump administration that reached the Supreme Court in hours. Jackson temporarily halted the payments until 48 hours after a midlevel appeals court weighed in.

It did so late Sunday night, ruling 3-0 that McConnell’s ruling could stand. The decision effectively set a Tuesday night deadline for the Supreme Court to step in.

The new ruling provides the high court more time to rule, keeping SNAP on hold in the meantime.

The private groups and cities who won in the lower courts urged the justices to let the payments flow immediately.

“Those people and families have now gone ten days without the help they need to afford food,” they wrote to the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

“Any further stay would prolong that irreparable harm and add to the chaos the government has unleashed, with lasting impacts on the administration of SNAP. The government has offered no defensible justification for that result,” they continued.

The case may soon be moot as House lawmakers prepare to return to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The chamber is set to vote on a funding package that cleared the Senate late Monday night after a group of Democrats joined Republicans to pass it.