MAGA Supreme Court Justices Vote to Keep Americans Hungry
The court extended a stay on a lower court’s order that would have required the government to pay out full SNAP benefits for November.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to withhold funds from its food-assistance benefits program.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court extended its hold on an order that would have forced the administration to pay out SNAP payments in full for November as the end of the government shutdown looms.
The government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, has meant that recipients of SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, have not been able to receive their benefits this month, putting millions of Americans at risk of going without food.
The president enjoyed a lavish Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago as the government shutdown continued and families reliant on SNAP benefits faced increased food insecurity.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images
The Trump administration had previously complied with lower court rulings that said it must provide partial funding, but challenged a ruling ordering the government to pay out benefits in full last week. The Supreme Court paused the order on Sunday. An appeals court on Monday ruled the funding should resume. The latest Supreme Court decision now overrules that decision.
The Supreme Court’s block on the order, which expires just before midnight on Thursday, means that SNAP recipients will remain in limbo. While recipients in some states have received their November benefits, others have received nothing.
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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who issued the initial stay on the lower court’s order, dissented from the extension on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Senate voted to end the shutdown, with eight Democratic senators joining Republicans. The House of Representatives has yet to vote on the bill to end the shutdown, and could do so as early as Wednesday.
The ruling follows the path of least resistance, relying on the fact that the shutdown will end this week and SNAP benefits will begin to be paid out, the Associated Press explains. It avoids addressing the issue of whether the lower court ruling ordering that benefits be paid was legally justified.
The SNAP program ran out of funding on Nov. 1, a month after the government shutdown began. The result has seen food banks and pantries around the country struggle to meet demand, and families struggle to put food on the table.
While his Department of Justice was in court fighting against the order to restore SNAP funding, President Donald Trump was posting on social media encouraging families to take advantage of Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal deal, using it as proof that “affordability is a Republican stronghold.” While the deal is cheaper than its 2024 predecessor, it also contains fewer items and more home brand items than the previous version.
The president also posted on Truth Social that “SNAP benefits... will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” earlier this month, as the DOJ sought to make that assertion a reality in court.
The Daily Beas has contacted the White House for comment.
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