Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) signage at a grocery store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S., Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.
Mel Musto | Bloomberg | fake images
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended until Thursday night a pause on a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration pay all SNAP benefits for November.
The two-day delay, challenged by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, gives Congress time to pass a short-term funding bill that would reopen the U.S. government, which has been closed since Oct. 1, and fund the SNAP program that provides food stamps to 42 million Americans.
The Trump administration had argued in a filing Monday before the Supreme Court that the tangled legal dispute over benefits could soon become moot if Congress passes that bill this week.
If the bill passes and SNAP benefits begin to flow normally, that would eliminate justification for lawsuits demanding they continue during the shutdown.
The House of Representatives is expected to begin voting on the Senate-passed bill Wednesday afternoon, and President Donald Trump has indicated he would sign it.
Rhode Island District Court Judge Jack McConnell last Thursday ordered the administration to pay all SNAP benefits, rejecting the administration’s plan to pay only 65% ​​of that aid. The administration originally planned not to pay any benefits during November even though $4.6 billion was available for that purpose from a contingency fund.
McConnell ordered federal officials to use not only the contingency fund but also about $4 billion in Child Nutrition Program funds to help pay for all benefits, something the administration had refused to do.
A federal appeals court in Boston upheld McConnell’s order, but a short-term stay imposed by Judge Jackson blocked the order. That suspension was set to expire Tuesday night.
In its order Tuesday extending the stay by two days, the Supreme Court said the administration’s request for a longer stay of the order pending an appeal had been referred to the full court for consideration.
The court said the suspension will remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday.
The court’s Tuesday order noted that Jackson had said he would “deny the request to extend the administrative hold and deny the request.” Jackson did not dissent in writing explaining his objection.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose state had sued the administration in another case to force payment of all SNAP benefits during the shutdown, said in a statement: “This decision means that millions of Americans will once again be left wondering how they will feed their families.”
“We hope to see an end to this suffering soon, as the government reopens and SNAP becomes fully funded again. In the meantime, any New Yorkers who received their November SNAP benefits should not be afraid to use them.”
