Washington – Supreme Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday put on hold for now a lower court order that would have required the Trump administration to immediately provide full federal food benefits to about 42 million Americans.
Jackson's order is temporary. She said it would give a federal appeals court more time to consider whether the Trump administration should provide longer emergency aid while an appeal in a dispute over Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments progresses.
The late-stage Supreme Court intervention comes as the Trump administration approaches a deadline set by a district court judge Thursday to cover full food aid through November and use roughly $4 billion for other nutrition programs to do so. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily upheld the lower court's decision, after which the Justice Department sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
Jackson wrote in the brief order that her administrative stay “will facilitate the First Circuit's expeditious resolution” of the Trump administration's request for a longer stay of the district court's decision. She said the appeals court should resolve the pending petition “promptly.”
In its emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration said it had already exhausted its entire contingency reserve of more than $5 billion, which was enough to provide only a partial month of food aid payments. He warned that the additional $4 billion needed to cover all of the benefits for low-income Americans would require them to pour into a fund earmarked for child nutrition programs.
“Removing billions of dollars from child nutrition programs would jeopardize the ability of these programs to function fully this year, jeopardizing critical food assistance initiatives that millions of children rely on every day, and raiding a program that Congress funded to instead extend one that Congress did not fund,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the Supreme Court filing.
USDA employee notified states Earlier Friday, he said he was working to comply with the district court's order. provide full food benefits Americans enrolled in the SNAP program.
The Supreme Court's decision is the latest development in a legal battle over SNAP benefits that has unfolded over the past few days. The payments are used by recipients to buy groceries, but late last month the USDA said aid for November would not be released due to the ongoing crisis. government shutdown.
A group of cities and nonprofits sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week amid growing fears that the pause in benefits will leave millions of low-income Americans hungry. U.S. District Judge John McConnell, who is overseeing the case, then ordered the Trump administration use the reserve fund to provide food assistance to the approximately 42 million Americans participating in the program as of November.
On Monday, the administration told the court it would comply with the order, but said the reserve money was only enough to provide partial SNAP benefits. The USDA sent Tuesday outlines the information needed to calculate reduced payments to eligible Americans, but warns it could be weeks before the aid reaches recipients.
The plaintiffs then asked McConnell for additional benefits that would require the Trump administration to “immediately” make full SNAP payments.
In his decision Thursday, McConnell accused the government of undermining the “intent and effectiveness” of its previous order to quickly distribute aid to SNAP beneficiaries. He pointed to President Trump's social media post on Tuesday, in which the president said the benefits would be provided “only when the Radical Left Democrats open the government, which they can easily do, and not before!”
Amid confusion over whether the president was signaling that the administration would not follow McConnell's original order to use the reserve funds, the White House clarified that it observing it.
However, the judge said that to do this, the Trump administration had to provide full SNAP benefits and use two sources – the emergency fund and another bank. McConnell said comments from administration officials indicate food benefits are being withheld for “political purposes.”
In seeking emergency relief in the 1st Circuit, the Justice Department said the judge's ruling “makes a mockery of the separation of powers” and directed the USDA to find $4 billion “in metaphorical couch cushions.”
Trump administration officials said there is $4.6 billion in the reserve fund to cover a partial appropriation for November, and $9 billion will be needed to provide the full amount of SNAP benefits.
Justice Department lawyers wrote in the filing that the judge's order to transfer funds from a second source of money would require it to divert billions of dollars from child nutrition programs that provide food assistance to millions of children.
“Unfortunately, by making a flawed short-term decision, the district court has bungled ongoing policy negotiations by extending the shutdown and thereby undermining its own goal of ensuring adequate funding for SNAP and all other critical safety net programs,” they said.
In a filing with the Supreme Court, Sauer said that if upheld, McConnell's decision would “metastasize and wreak further havoc on the shutdowns.”
“To meet yesterday's sweeping TRO, the government must transfer billions of dollars into SNAP and send that money to the States by tonight,” he wrote. “Once these billions are gone, the government will have no mechanism in place to return those funds—which will cause significant harm to those other important social programs whose budgets the district court ordered the government to raid.”
But lawyers for cities and non-profits declared to the appeals court that Trump administration officials are “callously ignoring” the harm to them and millions of Americans if aid is provided below full levels.
They urged the 1st Circuit to prevent the Trump administration from “further delaying critical food assistance to the individuals and families who need it now.”
