SCOTUS, federal courts weigh SNAP benefits amid wave of new challenges
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Lawyers from about two dozen states will head to court Monday to block the Trump administration’s attempt to penalize them for making full payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.
The filing is the latest in a chaotic, fast-paced legal saga centered on the status of the nation’s largest hunger-relief program, which supports 42 million low-income Americans and remains stalled due to the ongoing government shutdown.
“Food assistance is not a political issue,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said Monday. “It is a moral imperative, and no one should go hungry because their own government refuses to feed them.“
The request for emergency intervention comes after the Trump administration on Saturday threatened to impose heavy economic sanctions on states that were paying SNAP benefits in full, despite an order from U.S. District Judge John McConnell, who directed the administration to make full SNAP payments fully available, up from just 65 percent, as had been previously highlighted.
TWO JUDGES Rule Trump admin must keep instant benefits in place as shutdown drags on
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference, September 21, 2022, in New York. (Brittany Newman/AP Photo)
Trump officials further urged the Supreme Court, in a supplemental brief Monday afternoon, to keep in effect the emergency stay issued by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson last week.
They cited the progress Congress has made in resolving the ongoing shutdown and added that, in their view, “the answer to this crisis does not lie in federal courts reallocating resources without legal authority.”
“The only way to end this crisis – which the Executive Branch is determined to end – is for Congress to reopen government,” they added.
States have until tomorrow morning to file their response with the Supreme Court.
The judge had criticized the Trump administration for agreeing to fund only 65% of SNAP benefits. “It’s likely that SNAP recipients are going hungry as we sit here,” McConnell said Thursday shortly before issuing the new order, which gave the USDA less than 24 hours to comply.
In appealing the case, Trump’s legal team had argued that the judge’s order “made a mockery of the separation of powers” and accused McConnell of overstepping his powers as a federal judge.
“There is no legal basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” DOJ lawyers argued, describing its order as an “unprecedented injunction.”
FEDERAL JUDGE DECLINES THAT TRUMP MUST FULLY FUND SNAP PROGRAM BY FRIDAY
“SNAP/EBT Food Stamp Benefits Accepted” is displayed on a screen inside a Family Dollar Stores Inc. store in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., Tuesday, March 3, 2020. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a directive Saturday that states that fail to comply with the administration’s plans and pay only reduced SNAP benefits could see a cancellation of federal cost-sharing benefits for SNAP and would otherwise be financially “responsible for the consequences” of their actions.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin spoke about these actions before heading to court today to request emergency intervention.
“We are asking the courts to block Saturday night’s guidance and make all SNAP benefits immediately available,” Bonta said of the lawsuit.
The group accused the Trump administration of playing politics with SNAP benefits, or food assistance that benefits about one in eight Americans.
DOJ ACCUSES FEDERAL JUDGE OF MOCKING SEPARATION OF POWERS IN SNAP APPEAL
A U.S. Supreme Court police officer keeps watch outside the Supreme Court building, June 26, 2025, in Washington, DC. The Trump administration has asked the court to intervene and stay a lower court’s ruling blocking it from deploying National Guard troops to the city of Chicago. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin described USDA’s efforts to end full SNAP payments and shift costs to states as the “most heinous thing” he has seen during his tenure.
“There are more children in New Jersey benefiting from SNAP than the entire population of our state’s largest city,” he said, in an effort to contextualize the number of people in the Garden State alone who benefit from the food assistance program.
The USDA’s new guidance “affirmed that actions we took to follow its prior guidance and a court order were ‘unauthorized’ and that we must immediately rescind those actions or face serious penalties,” Bonta said.
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Trump officials separately told the Supreme Court on Monday that they will continue to seek an emergency stay of another federal judge’s order requiring them to keep SNAP benefits fully funded during the current government shutdown.
The administration “still intends to seek a stay” of that order, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court in a filing, barring any last-minute action by Congress to reach consensus and reopen the government after more than 40 days of government shutdown.
