BOSTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order requiring full funding of SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states have already received the funds.
A judge had given the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). However, the administration appealed to an appeals court to suspend any court orders demanding spending beyond available funds in a contingency reserve, seeking to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.
After a Boston appeals court declined to intervene immediately, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued an order late Friday pausing the requirement to distribute full SNAP payments. This pause will remain until the appeals court rules on whether to issue a more lasting suspension.
Justice Jackson, who handles emergency matters from Massachusetts, said her order will stay in effect until 48 hours after the appeals court decision, allowing the administration time to return to the Supreme Court if the appeals court refuses to act.
The SNAP program serves about one in eight Americans, primarily those with lower incomes.
### States That Have Issued SNAP Payments
Officials in more than half a dozen states confirmed that some SNAP recipients had already received full November payments on Friday. However, Jackson’s order may prevent other states from initiating the payments.
– **Wisconsin:** More than $104 million in monthly food benefits became available at midnight on electronic benefit cards for about 337,000 households. A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said the state quickly accessed federal funds by coordinating with its electronic benefit card vendor in response to Thursday’s court order.
– **Oregon:** Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said state employees “worked through the night” to issue full November benefits, ensuring families relying on SNAP could buy groceries by Friday.
– **Hawaii:** The state had November’s payment information ready and submitted it quickly after Thursday’s court order but before any potential higher court pause, according to Joseph Campos II, deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services.
The Trump administration told the Supreme Court that these fast-moving states were “trying to seize what they could of the agency’s finite set of remaining funds” before any appeal could be filed, potentially to the detriment of other states’ allotments.
“Once those billions are out the door, there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court documents.
Additional states including California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington also reported issuing full SNAP benefits on Friday, while others expected to distribute full benefits over the weekend or early next week. Some states are awaiting further federal guidance.
### Many SNAP Recipients Face Uncertainty
The ongoing court disputes have extended weeks of uncertainty for Americans with lower incomes. Individual SNAP recipients can receive up to nearly $300 monthly, while a family of four may qualify for up to nearly $1,000, though many receive less based on income.
For some SNAP participants, the timing of their benefits remained unclear. Jasmen Youngbey of Newark, New Jersey, for example, waited in line at a local food pantry Friday. As a single mother attending college, Youngbey relies on SNAP to feed her 7-month-old and 4-year-old sons. She said her account balance was at $0, explaining, “Not everybody has cash to pull out and say, ‘OK, I’m going to go and get this,’ especially with the cost of food right now.”
Later Friday, Youngbey reported receiving her monthly SNAP benefits.
### The Legal Battle Over SNAP Takes Another Twist
Due to the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally announced that SNAP benefits would not be available during November.
However, two judges ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s payments entirely. One of those judges, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., ordered full payments on Thursday.
In both rulings, judges required the government to tap an emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to cover November SNAP benefits. They allowed some flexibility to use other funds to make full payments, which total between $8.5 billion and $9 billion monthly.
On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional funds beyond the emergency reserve, stating that it is Congress’s responsibility to appropriate funds for the program. The administration cited the need to reserve other funds to support child hunger assistance programs.
Thursday’s federal court order rejected the administration’s plan to cover only 65% of the maximum monthly benefit, a measure that could have resulted in some recipients receiving no benefits this month.
In court filings Friday, the administration argued that the judge overstepped legislative and executive authority by ordering full SNAP funding.
“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” Solicitor General Sauer told the Supreme Court.
### States Take Different Approaches to Food Aid
States are varying in their response to the federal uncertainty surrounding SNAP payments.
– **Colorado and Massachusetts:** SNAP participants may receive full November payments as early as Saturday.
– **New York:** Full benefits access is expected to start by Sunday.
– **New Hampshire:** Full benefits should be available by the weekend.
– **Arizona and Connecticut:** Full benefits are anticipated within the coming days.
– **North Carolina:** Officials distributed partial SNAP payments Friday, with full payments expected by the weekend.
– **Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Dakota:** Partial November payments have been distributed.
Meanwhile, Delaware’s Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer announced the state used its own funds Friday to provide the first of what could be weekly relief payments to SNAP recipients amid federal uncertainty.
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The situation remains fluid as courts and states navigate the intersecting challenges of funding SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. Millions of Americans rely on this critical food aid program for their daily meals.
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