The Supreme Court of United States on Friday allowed President Donald Trump to temporarily suspend a court order that required his administration to fully fund the food assistance program (SNAP) during the government shutdown. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in charge of reviewing emergency appeals for the Supreme Court in Washington, issued an 'administrative stay,' which for now halts compliance with an order issued by a lower court in Rhode Island. That order required the transfer of $4 billion by the end of the day to ensure full November payments. The temporary decision grants additional time for the appeals court to study the case, which pits the federal government against groups advocating for food access. The measure leaves about 40 million beneficiaries who depend on the program to cover their basic needs in uncertainty. The Department of Agriculture had previously stated that while the legal dispute continued, it would use contingency funds to offer partial payments to households enrolled in SNAP. The case has become one of the main legal fronts of the current government shutdown, the longest in the country's history, which has affected the funding of several social programs and the operational capacity of federal agencies. The direct suspension of food aid distribution came after the Trump administration, through the Department of Justice, went to the Supreme Court to reverse the previous court order on the grounds that they cannot execute funds until Congress has allocated them.
