The Supreme Court issued an emergency order on Friday night, temporarily blocking full payments of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The fate of SNAP has become a critical and ongoing flashpoint in the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, with nearly 42 million Americans depending on the assistance to eat, some of whom already faced interruptions in food assistance due to the program’s funding being in limbo.
What To Know
According to the Associated Press, the High Court granted the Trump Administration’s request to appeal a previous ruling that would require SNAP to be fully funded amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The order written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says in part, “The applicants assert that, without intervention from this
Court, they will have to ‘transfer an estimated $4 billion by tonight’ to fund SNAP benefits through November.”
“Given the First Circuit’s representations, an administrative stay is required to facilitate the First Circuit’s expeditious resolution of the pending stay motion,” Justice Jackson wrote. The order now blocks a previous ruling by a Rhode Island judge that required the payments to be paid out by Friday night, NBC News notes.
This is a developing story that will be updated with additional information.
