The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday night temporarily paused a lower-court order that would have required the Trump administration to fully restore November\u2019s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by the end of the day, just hours after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that New Yorkers would begin receiving their full benefits starting Sunday.<\/p>\n
The emergency administrative stay, issued by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, leaves 1.8 million New York City residents in limbo while a federal appeals court considers whether the administration must immediately resume full funding for the program, which has been disrupted during the ongoing federal government shutdown.<\/p>\n
The underlying orders from the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island had directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fully fund November SNAP benefits and distribute them by Nov. 7 , an effort to halt what judges called unlawful withholding of aid during the shutdown. <\/p>\n
But the Trump administration quickly appealed and sought emergency relief from higher courts.\n<\/p>\n
Earlier Friday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to put the lower-court ruling on hold but said it would \u201cissue a decision\u2026 as quickly as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Supreme Court\u2019s order, issued later in the evening, temporarily blocks enforcement of the district court\u2019s mandate to allow the appeals court time to rule.<\/p>\n
Under the order, the stay remains in effect until 48 hours after the First Circuit decides whether to grant the administration a longer-term pause, or until the Supreme Court says otherwise.<\/p>\n
The administration argues it has exhausted SNAP\u2019s contingency reserve and that complying with the district court\u2019s orders would require shifting approximately $4 billion from other food assistance programs, including school meals for nearly 30 million children \u2014 a move it says Congress has not authorized.<\/p>\n
Announcing the filing of the emergency Supreme Court application, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized Rhode Island Judge John McConnell, saying his ruling was \u201cjudicial activism at its worst,\u201d accusing him of attempting to influence political negotiations over SNAP and other programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the court \u201ctook the current shutdown as an 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whiplash\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gov. Hochul, who only hours earlier had celebrated the Rhode Island court ruling as a victory for than three million New Yorker state residents who rely on SNAP, blasted the Trump administration for \u201ccruelty\u201d in withholding aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump is hellbent on preventing millions of Americans from putting food on the table. He\u2019s made decision after decision to withhold funding that feeds families, seniors and children \u2014 and continues doubling down on this cruelty by challenging the courts\u2019 clear orders,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Before the benefits lapsed, Hochul had previously stressed that state spending could not replace federal SNAP funding in the long term, noting that New York administers approximately $650 million per month<\/a> in federal benefits.<\/p>\n New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was part of a multistate coalition suing to force full funding, expressed frustration that the fight had reached the nation\u2019s highest court, calling the decision to pause full funding a \u201ctragedy for the millions of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIt is disgraceful that the Trump administration chose to fight this in court instead of fulfilling its responsibility to the American people,\u201d James said.\u00a0 \u201cEvery day the federal government delays is another day that children, seniors, and families face real pain and suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n The legal battle amid the shutdown-related funding lapses has sown confusion among recipients and retailers. The Attorney General\u2019s Office said Friday it received reports of New Yorkers unable to use their EBT cards at authorized SNAP retailers, prompting cease-and-desist letters to chains including ShopRite and Hannaford.<\/p>\n