The Trump administration is renewing a Supreme Court appeal to completely freeze SNAP payments

President Donald Trump’s administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday in an effort to keep full payments to the federal SNAP food assistance program frozen during the government shutdown.

The order is the latest in a flurry of legal activity over how to proceed with a program that helps buy groceries for 42 million Americans during the historic U.S. government shutdown. Lower courts ruled that the government must keep the full payments flowing, and the Supreme Court asked the administration to respond after an appeals court ruled against it again late Sunday.

Watch live: The Senate meets as some Democrats prepare to join the GOP to end the government shutdown

The Attorney General, Dr. John Sawyer said the federal government still wants to suspend those lower court orders, though he also pointed in a letter to the justices to reports that Congress may end the shutdown soon through a compromise that would fund SNAP.

Potential for “catastrophic operational disruptions”

States that administer SNAP payments still face uncertainty over whether they can — or should — provide full monthly benefits during ongoing legal battles.

The Trump administration over the weekend required states to “roll back” the full benefits paid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the one-day period between the time a federal judge ordered full funding and a Supreme Court judge temporarily halted the order.

A federal appeals court in Boston left the full benefits order in place late Sunday, even though the Supreme Court order ensures the government won’t have to pay for at least 48 hours.

“The record here shows that the government sat idle for nearly a month, unwilling to make partial payments, while people who depend on SNAP received no benefits a week into November and still counting,” Judge Julie Rickelman of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote.

The Supreme Court has allowed the government to pause full payments for now, and is expected to decide on Tuesday whether to extend the freeze. Congress could also decide this week to fund SNAP through the end of the fiscal year under a proposal to end the government shutdown.

Some states are warning of “catastrophic operational disruptions” if the Trump administration does not reimburse them for SNAP benefits they have already authorized. Meanwhile, other states provide partial monthly SNAP benefits with federal funds or use their own funds to load electronic benefit cards for SNAP recipients.

Millions are receiving help while others wait

The Trump administration initially said SNAP benefits would not be available in November due to the government shutdown. After some states and nonprofit groups sued, judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled that the administration could not skip November benefits entirely.

The administration then said it would use an emergency reserve fund to provide 65% of the maximum monthly benefit. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell, based in Rhode Island, said that’s not good enough and ordered SNAP benefits fully funded by Friday.

Some states acted quickly to direct EBT vendors to distribute full monthly benefits to SNAP recipients. Millions of people in those states received money for groceries before Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson suspended McConnell’s order Friday night, pending further deliberations by the appeals court.

Millions of other people still have not received their November SNAP payments because their states were waiting for more guidance from the USDA, which administers the SNAP program.

“Continued delays deepen the suffering of children, seniors, and working families, and force nonprofits to shoulder a greater burden,” Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement Monday. “If basic ethics and humanity do not compel the administration to ensure food security for all Americans, the many federal court judges who find its actions unlawful should compel them to do so.”

The Trump administration said the injunction to provide full benefits violates the Constitution by encroaching on the purchasing power of the legislative and executive branches.

States are fighting an attempt to freeze SNAP benefits

The Trump administration said Sunday that states moved too quickly and wrongly issued full SNAP benefits after last week’s rulings.

“States should immediately reverse any steps they have taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of agriculture, wrote to state SNAP administrators. He warned that countries could face sanctions if they did not comply.

Wisconsin, which was among the first states to load full benefits after McConnell’s order, has had its federal reimbursement frozen. As a result, the state’s SNAP account could be depleted as soon as Monday, leaving no money to reimburse stores that sell food to SNAP recipients, according to a court filing from those who sued.

Some Democratic governors have vowed to challenge any federal attempt to claw back the money.

In Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said that “those who earned their benefits should not worry about losing them.”

“No, Connecticut does not need to restore SNAP benefits that have already been sent to the 360,000 people who depend on it for food and who should never have been caught up in this political battle,” Lamont said. “We have their backs.”

Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; Lindsey Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.