The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended a short-term order that allows the Trump administration to withhold paying for full food stamp payments in November, a move that appeared designed to put off the case a few days in the hope that Congress approves a pending agreement to reopen the federal government.
The fast-moving emergency appeal at the Supreme Court over Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits that help more than 40 million Americans – as well as several lawsuits playing out in lower courts – would almost certainly be dismissed as moot if the historic shutdown ends in coming days.
But until that happens, the “administrative stay” that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued Friday will continue to block a lower court order that required the administration to provide full federal food benefits.
In a new brief order on Tuesday, the court said it was extending the administrative stay through the end of the day Thursday. Jackson dissented from the extension.
Along with canceled flights, the spiraling legal battle over food stamps became a defining and tangible impact of the shutdown. The groups challenging the administration told the Supreme Court in a brief earlier Tuesday that SNAP beneficiaries had “now gone ten days without the help they need to afford food” and that millions of Americans, including children, were going hungry.
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