Supreme Court keeps pause on SNAP food benefits as shutdown comes to end

 WASHINGTON – – The Supreme Court on Nov. 11 again declined to order the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP food benefits, giving Congress time to resolve the issue through a pending deal to end the government shutdown.

The court kept a district judge's funding order on hold through Nov. 13, freezing action without considering which side has the better legal arguments.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had previously paused the district judge's funding deadline while the Boston-based 1^st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was considering it. The request went to Jackson, the justice who handles emergency appeals from that part of the country, putting one of the court's three liberal justices in the awkward position of granting a request from the administration on an issue of top concern for Democrats.