SCOTUS extends stay on SNAP benefits for now, impacting millions

By Fox News · Fox News

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to extend its temporary stay of a lower court order that the Trump administration immediately pay the full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the month of November, delivering a near-term win to the administration, just hours after it appealed the matter to the high court for emergency intervention. Trump officials had urged the Supreme Court in a supplemental brief Monday afternoon to keep in place an emergency stay handed down by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson last week. The new action keeps the stay in place through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauerhad asked the Supreme Court Monday to grant an emergency stay ordering them to resume full SNAP payments before the end of the government shutdown in Congress. At issue was whether the Trump administration must resume full SNAP benefit payments for the month of November, after they lapsed at the start of the month during the government shutdown. States sued last month to keep the benefits in place, arguing that suspending the aid would disproportionately harm some tens of millions of vulnerable and low-income Americans in their states. "Because of USDA’s actions, SNAP benefits will be delayed for the first time since the program’s inception," they said. TRUMP, STATES BACK IN COURT OVER SNAP AS BENEFITS REMAIN IN LEGAL LIMBO Lower courts had sided with the states in ordering the SNAP benefits to be paid in full, prompting the Trump administration to appeal the issue to the Supreme Court for emergency intervention. In appealing the case, Trump's legal team had argued that the lower court judges overstepped their powers, and urged the Supreme Court to keep in place an emergency stay handed down late last week by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. They cited the progress Congress has made towards resolving the ongoing shutdown, and added that, in their view, "the answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resou…