Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gives Trump short-term win on food stamp payments during shutdown

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave the Trump administration a short reprieve late Friday, putting on hold a lower court ruling that had ordered the government to pay full food stamp benefits, despite the government shutdown.

Justice Jackson said the hold would last for two days after an appeals court issues a ruling on the matter. That would give the Supreme Court some time to decide whether to intervene after the appellate judges make their ruling.

Trump officials had asked the Supreme Court for a delay, saying that “chaos “would reign if a single federal judge in Rhode Island is allowed to commandeer the administration’s decision-making.

At issue is billions of dollars that District Judge John McConnell Jr. had ordered the government to pay by the end of Friday.

The Trump administration argues that with the government shut down, the food stamp program no longer exists, and it cannot legally make payments until Congress restores funding.

Judge McConnell ruled that there was money in a contingency fund to pay partial benefits, and in a second ruling, he ordered the government to tap other money, dedicated to the school lunch program, to be able to pay 100% of benefits for November.

That second ruling on Thursday ignited a flurry of new legal action.

The Justice Department rushed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking for a reversal, and when that wasn’t immediately forthcoming Friday evening, they asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

Justice Jackson, an Obama appointee, delivered. She said she expected the appeals court to move quickly, and until then, the government shouldn’t have to pay out the full benefit.

“Given the First Circuit’s representations, an administrative stay is required to facilitate the First Circuit’s expeditious resolution of the pending stay motion,” the justice wrote in a brief order.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer had told the high court that paying the full benefits would require taking money from the Child Nutrition Program. He said that’s an untenable position to put the government in.

Mr. Sauer said some states, which pay out the benefits funded by federal cash, are already gaming the system by rushing a whole month’s worth of payments to their beneficiaries, trying to get in line before any more court action.

It was unclear Friday evening how much money those states had drawn down before Justice Jackson’s action.

The shutdown began Oct. 1 when Senate Democrats filibustered to block a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open into the new fiscal year.

Democrats have said the government cannot reopen until a pandemic-era Obamacare subsidy is extended and Republicans agree to discuss revoking some of the limits to health coverage eligibility included in this summer’s Big Beautiful Bill.