The Supreme Court has extended its temporary order blocking the use of child nutrition and tariff revenue funds to fully pay out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
The move allows the Trump administration to delay additional SNAP payments until Congress approves new funding.
The unsigned order was issued late Tuesday. It keeps in place a hold first granted last week through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to dissent. She wrote that she “would deny the extension” of her earlier stay.
The administration had asked the high court to continue blocking lower-court rulings. Those rulings required the government to redirect billions in existing funds to SNAP. The orders demanded that about $4 billion in tariff revenue be added on top of $4.6 billion already taken from a contingency fund.
In its filing, the Department of Justice argued that the lower-court orders would “inject the federal courts into the political branches’ closing efforts to end this shutdown.” The DOJ said the rulings attempt “to reallocate resources without lawful authority.”
Government lawyers told the Court that Congress was on the verge of resolving the funding standoff. They said the shutdown, which began Oct. 1, could end soon and that court interference might derail negotiations. “Congress appears to be on the brink of breaking the deadlock, though that outcome is unsure,” they wrote.
“The district court’s unlawful orders risk upsetting that compromise and throwing into doubt how innumerable critical federal programs will be funded—a point on the equities that escaped the court of appeals.”
The Rhode Island State Council of Churches and other plaintiffs argued that the administration should use available revenue to cover full SNAP payments for November. “The equities in this case could hardly be clearer,” their filing stated.
“People need food now, and the government’s speculative fear that Child Nutrition programs could run out of funding sometime next year if the government taps those funds for SNAP cannot overcome the immediate harm that millions of Americans are actually suffering today.”
The Supreme Court’s temporary order applies to two related cases, including *Rollins v. Rhode Island Council of Churches.* It gives the justices additional time to review the administration’s emergency request. The extension will last while Congress completes action on a funding bill.
The Senate passed legislation Monday evening to reopen the government. The House is expected to vote on the measure Wednesday. Once signed into law, the bill would restore normal appropriations for SNAP and other programs. That would effectively make the lower-court dispute moot.
Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the Supreme Court’s decision. She said it prevents judicial interference at the final stage of the funding talks. “Thank you to the Court for allowing Congress to continue its swift progress to end the shutdown WITHOUT last-ditch disruption from lower courts,” Bondi said. “We will continue fighting and winning to protect President Trump’s agenda from meritless judicial activism.”
The high court’s stay is expected to remain in place long enough for the shutdown-ending legislation to reach the president’s desk. Once that happens, it would automatically restore funding for SNAP and Child Nutrition programs.