The court’s ruling permits the US administration to proceed with partial payments to the program
The US Supreme Court has temporarily blocked judges' orders to fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payouts in full during the federal government shutdown, reported the Associated Press.
The ruling was delivered in response to the US administration’s emergency appeal for the suspension of court orders mandating the use of money beyond that available in a contingency fund to finance the SNAP payments. The Supreme Court’s decision permits the administration to go ahead with issuing partial SNAP payments this month.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made the call on Friday November 7 to halt the mandate to provide full SNAP payments until an appeals court made a decision on a longer-term block. Jackson’s order will be in effect until 48 hours after the appeals court issues a judgment. If the appeals court declines to intervene, the US administration may revert to the Supreme Court.
Jackson’s decision may stop states from providing full payments to SNAP recipients, even though recipients in states like Wisconsin, Hawaii, California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington have already received their payouts in entirety. Wisconsin paid out more than US$104 billion in monthly food benefits, and Hawaii quickly processed its November payouts before they could be paused, according to Joseph Campos II, deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services, in a statement to AP News.
Earlier today, the US Department of Agriculture ordered states to walk back the payouts already issued.
“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized. Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” wrote Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, in a letter to state SNAP directors, a snippet of which was published by AP News.
States could be penalized for non-compliance, Penn indicated. Nonetheless, the department did not confirm if the warning extends to states which supported the program with local funds.
US senator from Alaska Lisa Murkowski said states which used their own money to fund SNAP should not face negative consequences.
“It’s one thing if the federal government is going to continue its level of appeal through the courts to say, no, this can’t be done. But when you are telling the states that have said this is a significant enough issue in our state, we’re going to find resources, backfill or front load, whatever term you want, to help our people, those states should not be penalized,” Murkowski said in a statement published by AP News.
Massachusetts governor Maura Healey said US president Donald Trump would be taken to court if he tried to reclaim the funds already disseminated.
“Massachusetts residents with funds on their cards should continue to spend it on food. President Trump should be focusing on reopening the government that he controls instead of repeatedly fighting to take away food from American families,” Healey said in a statement published by AP News.
Jackson is responsible for emergency matters from Massachusetts.
