A food pantry set up by the Oakland Unified School District, September 2022. Credit: Amir Aziz/The Oaklandside

Residents in California and other states began to receive their full SNAP food aid Friday as an appeals court declined to strike down, for now, an order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to fund such benefits amid a U.S. government shutdown.

“Food benefits are now beginning to flow back to California families,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

After Trump administration officials had refused to distribute November payments during the government shutdown, a federal district court judge gave the administration until Friday to issue November payments for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The administration asked an appeals court on Friday to suspend that order — but the court declined to do so.

“The Trump administration is literally fighting in court to block American families’ access to food,” Newsom said.

In a memo issued on Friday, Patrick Penn, a deputy undersecretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services at the Department of Agriculture, told every regional SNAP director that the administration “will complete the processes necessary” so they can issue full SNAP benefits “later today.”

California had joined 22 other states in filing the lawsuit at the heart of the case, claiming that the administration’s refusal to pay out SNAP benefits — called CalFresh in California — during the federal government shutdown was unlawful.

Officials in California and five other states confirmed to AP that some SNAP recipients were issued full November payments on Friday. ABC 7 News reported on Friday that some Bay Area residents were among them.

In addition to California, Wisconsin, Oregon, Kansas, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania all said they moved quickly to issue full SNAP benefits Friday, while other states said they expected full benefits to arrive over the weekend or early next week.

Then, late Friday, came another legal twist: The Trump administration appealed the U.S. Supreme Court. At 9:17 p.m. on Friday night, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the stay that Trump officials had sought, giving the court of appeals time to make a final decision — and ushering in more uncertainty.

“Many people already received their benefits for November,” a Nov. 8 update from California’s Department of Social Services reads. “If you received benefits, you can use them.”

“However, people who have not yet received their benefits may experience a continued delay, as the federal government took action on November 7 to stop additional benefits from going out,” the update says. “More information is expected soon.”

The court wrangling has prolonged weeks of uncertainty for Americans who depend on SNAP to feed their families. The food program serves about 1 in 8 Americans.

An individual can receive a monthly maximum food benefit of nearly $300 and a family of four up to nearly $1,000, although many receive less than that under a formula that takes into consideration their income.

The legal battle over SNAP

Because of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally had said SNAP benefits would not be available in November. However, two federal judges ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the shutdown. One of those judges, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., ordered the full payments Thursday.

In both cases, the judges ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November and gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full monthly payments, which cost between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month.

On Monday, the administration had said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program and that the other money was needed to shore up other child hunger programs.

Thursday’s federal court order rejected the Trump administration’s decision to cover only 65% of the maximum monthly benefit, a decision that could have left some recipients getting nothing for this month.

In its court filings Friday, Trump’s administration contended that Thursday’s directive to fund full SNAP benefits runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers. Courts hold neither the power to appropriate nor the power to spend,” the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in its request to the appeals court.

In response, attorneys for the states, cities, and nonprofits challenging the Trump administration’s decision said the government has plenty of available money and the court should “not allow them to further delay getting vital food assistance to individuals and families who need it now.”

“*” indicates required fields