The Highest Court Rules Full Snap Food Aid Can Be Temporarily Halted.
America's top court has issued an urgent ruling that permits for now the Trump administration to delay billions of dollars for food benefits relied on by millions of low-income Americans.
The White House sought relief from the Supreme Court after a federal judge ordered that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food aid, should be paid out in full to beneficiaries by Friday.
The programme has been caught in uncertainty by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the Trump administration arguing it could only pay for part of it.
Friday's ruling means $4bn can be temporarily withheld pending further legal hearings.
Programme Impact
This nutrition aid is used by 42 million Americans - around one in eight - and requires almost £6.9bn a month.
On Thursday, a federal magistrate, the presiding judge, alleged the Trump administration of blocking nutrition funds "due to political motives" and said that without the aid "millions of kids are in danger of facing hunger".
He ordered the administration to fund the assistance completely.
Court Proceedings
The Thursday ruling followed another that required the government to dip into reserve money to at least partially fund the assistance for last month.
The legal saga was triggered after the USDA, which oversees the Snap programme, stated benefits would be halted in November due to the budget shortfall over the budget crisis.
Before the Supreme Court stepped in, the Agriculture Department said it was working to comply with the multiple rulings and was taking steps to distribute the full funds.
High Court's Move
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, known as an administrative stay, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while government lawyer's seek to overturn it.
The row over nutrition program money has become one of the bitterest of what is now the longest government shutdown in American history.
Wider Effects
Government workers have been unpaid for more than a month and flight operations has been thrown into chaos as Congress members cannot reach a deal to pass a budget.
Several states have drawn on their own budget savings to keep Snap payments going, which are valued at around $6 to recipients via pre-loaded debit cards which can be redeemed in food markets.
But some states have said they are cannot cover the funding which has been lost from the U.S. treasury.
