The Supreme Court temporarily blocked an order late Friday night that would have forced the government to backfill the country\u2019s largest anti-hunger program \u2014 a move the administration claimed would require it to \u201craid school-lunch money\u201d to keep families fed. <\/p>\n
The decision, issued on behalf of the court by Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, put a brief hold on the district court order that would have forced the Trump administration to pay out $4 billion for food stamps \u2014 formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP \u2014 to keep it afloat through November amid the ongoing government shutdown. <\/p>\n
That hold is set to expire 48 hours after the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on whether to compel the payment or allow food assistance to lapse for millions of Americans who rely on it. <\/p>\n
The courtroom drama began late on Thursday, when a U.S. district judge ordered the federal government to pay the $4 billion by 5 p.m. Friday. <\/p>\n
The administration responded with a breakneck appeal, filing around breakfast time Friday in the 1st Circuit and again at the Supreme Court in the middle of dinner. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,\u201d Assistant Atty. Gen. Brett A. Shumate wrote in the 1st Circuit appeal. <\/p>\n
The administration\u2019s only option would be to \u201cto starve Peter to feed Paul\u201d by cutting school lunch programs, Shumate wrote. <\/p>\n
On Friday afternoon, the appellate court declined to immediately block the lower court\u2019s order, and said it would quickly rule on the merits of the funding decree. <\/p>\n
The administration immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, demanding the justices block the move by 9:30 p.m. Eastern. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe district court\u2019s ruling is untenable at every turn,\u201d Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer wrote in his petition, saying it would \u201cmetastasize\u201d into \u201cfurther shutdown chaos.\u201d <\/p>\n
SNAP benefits are a key fight in the ongoing government shutdown. California is one of several states suing the administration to restore the safety net program while negotiations continue to end the stalemate. <\/p>\n
Millions of Americans have struggled to afford groceries since benefits lapsed Nov. 1, inspiring many Republican lawmakers to join Democrats in demanding an emergency stopgap. <\/p>\n
The Trump administration was previously ordered to release contingency funding for the program that it said would cover benefits for about half of November. <\/p>\n
But the process has been \u201cconfusing and chaotic\u201d and \u201crife with errors,\u201d according to a brief filed by 25 states and the District of Columbia. <\/p>\n
Some states, including California, have started disbursing SNAP benefits for the month. Others say the partial funding is a functional lockout. <\/p>\n
\u201cMany states\u2019 existing systems require complete reprogramming to accomplish this task, and given the sudden \u2014 and suddenly changing \u2014 nature of USDA\u2019s guidance, that task is impossible to complete quickly,\u201d the brief said. <\/p>\n
\u201cRecalculations required by [the government\u2019s] plan will delay November benefits for [state] residents for weeks or months.\u201d <\/p>\n
In response, U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. of Rhode Island ordered the full food stamp payout by the end of the week. He accused the administration of withholding the benefit for political gain. <\/p>\n
\u201cFaced with a choice between advancing relief and entrenching delay, [the administration] chose the latter \u2014 an outcome that predictably magnifies harm and undermines the very purpose of the program it administers,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis Court is not na\u00efve to the administration\u2019s true motivations,\u201d McConnell wrote. \u201cFar from being concerned with Child Nutrition funding, these statements make clear that the administration is withholding full SNAP benefits for political purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court has now extended that deadline through at least the weekend. A fuller decision from the 1st Circuit or the Supreme Court could nullify it entirely. <\/p>\n
The 1st Circuit is currently the country\u2019s most liberal, with five active judges, all of whom were named to the bench by Democratic presidents. But the Supreme Court has a conservative supermajority, and has regularly sided with the administration in decisions on the emergency docket. <\/p>\n
While the 1st Circuit deliberates, both sides are left sparring over how many children will go hungry if the other prevails. <\/p>\n
More than 16 million children rely on SNAP benefits. Close to 30 million are fed through the National School Lunch Program, which the government now says it must gut to meet the court\u2019s order. <\/p>\n
But the same pool of cash has already been tapped to extend Women, Infants and Children, which is a federal program that pays for baby formula and other basics for some poor families.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis clearly undermines the Defendants\u2019 point, as WIC is an entirely separate program from the Child Nutrition Programs,\u201d McConnell wrote. <\/p>\n
In its Friday order, the 1st Circuit panel said it would issue a full ruling \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n
In her order, Justice Jackson said it is expected \u201cwith dispatch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Supreme Court temporarily blocked an order late Friday night that would have forced the government to backfill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[29063,26063,8490,29062,7735,26862,2424,405,48,52,51,47,50,49,3906,9355,1594,4576,13048,225,1695],"class_list":{"0":"post-43708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-1st-circuit-friday","9":"tag-appellate-court","10":"tag-benefit","11":"tag-break-neck-appeal","12":"tag-court-order","13":"tag-food-stamp","14":"tag-friday","15":"tag-government","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-headlines","18":"tag-la-news","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-month","23":"tag-order","24":"tag-other","25":"tag-program","26":"tag-snap-benefit","27":"tag-state","28":"tag-trump-administration"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}