The US Supreme Court announced Friday that the Trump administration will not be compelled to immediately restore SNAP food benefits that were halted during the government shutdown.
The temporary ruling leaves millions of Americans uncertain about future assistance.
Earlier in the week, a lower court had determined that President Donald Trump’s administration must fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for November by Friday’s end.
That ruling required the administration to draw on contingency reserves to send billions of dollars to states, ensuring roughly 42 million Americans dependent on SNAP could continue receiving food aid.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued what is known as an administrative stay, a temporary pause that allows the courts more time to review the administration’s appeal.
On Friday morning, the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that only Congress holds the authority to decide how to allocate federal funds.
“The core power of Congress is that of the purse, while the Executive is tasked with allocating limited resources across competing priorities,” the DOJ wrote.
According to the DOJ, the lower court “took the current shutdown as effective license to declare a federal bankruptcy and appoint itself the trustee, charged with picking winners and losers among those seeking some part of the limited pool of remaining federal funds.”
Since Congress failed to approve a new budget before the September 30 deadline, numerous federal agencies have begun to shut down, leaving essential programs and welfare services hanging in the balance.
The Supreme Court’s decision comes even as federal officials have tried to release critical payments to the states.
Democratic leaders have voiced anger over both the high court’s stay and Trump’s refusal to reinstate SNAP funding.
“It’s disgraceful that the administration chose to go to court instead of fulfilling its responsibility to the American people,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote on X.
