Supreme Court extends its order blocking full SNAP payments, with
shutdown potentially near an end
[November 12, 2025]
By GEOFF MULVIHILL, MARK SHERMAN and MARGERY A. BECK
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended an order blocking full SNAP
payments, amid signals that the government shutdown could soon end and
food aid payments resume.
The order keeps in place at least for a few more days a chaotic
situation. People who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program to feed their families in some states have received their full
monthly allocations, while others have received nothing.
The order, which is three sentences long and comes with no explanation
on the court's thinking, will expire just before midnight Thursday.
The Senate has approved a bill to end the shutdown and the House of
Representatives could vote on it as early as Wednesday. Reopening the
government would restart the program that helps 42 million Americans buy
groceries, but it’s not clear how quickly full payments would resume.
Ruling follows path of least legal resistance
The justices chose what is effectively the path of least resistance,
anticipating the federal government shutdown will end soon while
avoiding any substantive legal ruling about whether lower court orders
to keep full payments flowing during the shutdown are correct.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only one of the nine justices to
say she would have revived the lower court orders immediately, but
didn’t otherwise explain her vote. Jackson signed the initial order
temporarily freezing the payments.
The court's action doesn't do anything to settle uncertainty across the
country.
Beneficiaries in some states have received their full monthly
allocations while in others they have received nothing. Some states have
issued partial payments.
How quickly SNAP benefits could reach recipients if the government
reopens would vary by state. But states and advocates say that it's
easier to make full payments quickly than partial ones.
Carolyn Vega, a policy analyst at the advocacy group Share Our Strength,
also said there could be some technical challenges for states that have
issued partial benefits to send out the remaining amount.
An urgent need for beneficiaries
In Pennsylvania, full November benefits went out to some people on
Friday. But Jim Malliard, 41, of Franklin, said he had not received
anything by Monday.
Malliard is a full-time caretaker for his wife, who is blind and has had
several strokes this year, and his teenage daughter, who suffered severe
medical complications from surgery last year.
That stress has only been compounded by the pause in the $350 monthly
SNAP payment he previously received for himself, his wife and daughter.
He said he is down to $10 in his account and is relying on what’s left
in the pantry — mostly rice and ramen.
“It’s kind of been a lot of late nights, making sure I had everything
down to the penny to make sure I was right,” Malliard said. “To say
anxiety has been my issue for the past two weeks is putting it mildly.”
The political wrangling in Washington has shocked many Americans, and
some have been moved to help.
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A SNAP EBT information sign is displayed outside of a convenience
store in Baltimore, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie
Scarbrough)
“I figure that I’ve spent money on dumber stuff than trying to feed
other people during a manufactured famine,” said Ashley Oxenford, a
teacher who set out a “little food pantry” in her front yard this
week for vulnerable neighbors in Carthage, New York.
SNAP has been the center of an intense fight in court
The Trump administration chose to cut off SNAP funding after October
due to the shutdown. That decision sparked lawsuits and a string of
swift and contradictory judicial rulings that deal with government
power — and impact food access for about 1 in 8 Americans.
The administration went along with two rulings on Oct. 31 by judges
who said the government must provide at least partial funding for
SNAP. It eventually said recipients would get up to 65% of their
regular benefits. But it balked last week when one of the judges
said it must fund the program fully for November, even if that means
digging into funds the government said need to be maintained in case
of emergencies elsewhere.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to pause that order in a ruling late
Sunday.
An appeals court said Monday that full funding should resume, and
that requirement was set to kick in Tuesday night before the top
court extended the order blocking full SNAP payments.
Congressional talks about reopening government
The U.S. Senate on Monday passed legislation to reopen the federal
government with a plan that would include replenishing SNAP funds.
Speaker Mike Johnson told members of the House to return to
Washington to consider the deal a small group of Senate Democrats
made with Republicans.
President Donald Trump has not said whether he would sign it if it
reaches his desk, but told reporters at the White House on Sunday
that it “looks like we're getting close to the shutdown ending.”
Still, the Trump administration said in a Supreme Court filing
Monday that it shouldn’t be up to the courts.
“The answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate
resources without lawful authority,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer
said in the papers. “The only way to end this crisis — which the
Executive is adamant to end — is for Congress to reopen the
government.”
After Tuesday's ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social
media: “Thank you to the Court for allowing Congress to continue its
swift progress.”
The coalition of cities and nonprofit groups who challenged the SNAP
pause said in a court filing Tuesday that the Department of
Agriculture, which administers SNAP, is to blame for the confusion.
“The chaos was sown by USDA’s delays and intransigence," they said,
"not by the district court’s efforts to mitigate that chaos and the
harm it has inflicted on families who need food.”
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Associated Press reporter Cara Anna in Carthage, New York,
contributed.
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