Trump, states back in court over SNAP as benefits remain in legal limbo

Lawyers for roughly two dozen states will head to court Monday to block the Trump administration's attempt to penalize them for making full payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. 

The filing is the latest in a chaotic, fast-moving legal saga centered on the status of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, which supports 42 million low-income Americans and remains stalled as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.  

"Food assistance is not a political issue," New York Attorney General Letitia James told reporters Monday. "It is a moral imperative, and no one should go hungry because their own government is refusing to feed them."

The request for emergency intervention comes after the Trump administration on Saturday threatened to slap states who paid out the full SNAP benefits with steep economic penalties, despite an order from U.S. District Judge John McConnell, who ordered the administration to make the full SNAP payments fully available compared to just 65%, as had been previously outlined.

TWO JUDGES RULE TRUMP ADMIN MUST KEEP SNAP BENEFITS IN PLACE AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON

Trump officials further urged the Supreme Court in a supplemental brief Monday afternoon to keep in place an emergency stay handed down by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson last week. 

They cited the progress Congress has made towards resolving the ongoing shutdown, and added that, in their view, "the answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority." 

"The only way to end this crisis — which the Executive is adamant to end — is for Congress to reopen the government," they added.

States have until tomorrow morning to file their response to the Supreme Court.

The judge had scolded the Trump administration for agreeing to fund just 65% of the SNAP benefits. "It’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here," McConnell said Thursday shortly before issuing the new order, which gave the USDA less than 24 hours to comply. 

In appealing the case, Trump's legal team had argued that the judge's order "makes a mockery of the separation of powers," and accused McConnell of overstepping his powers as a federal judge.

"There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions," DOJ lawyers argued, describing his order as an "unprecedented injunction." 

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TRUMP MUST FULLY FUND SNAP PROGRAM BY FRIDAY

The U.S. Department of Agriculture told states in a directive on Saturday that states that failed to comply with the administration's plans and pay only the reduced SNAP benefits could see a cancellation of federal cost-sharing benefits for SNAP, and would be otherwise fully financially "responsible for the consequences" of their actions.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin spoke out about the actions before heading to court today to seek emergency intervention. 

"We’re asking the courts to block Saturday night’s guidance and immediately make full SNAP benefits available," Bonta said of the lawsuit. 

The group accused the Trump administration of playing politics with SNAP benefits, or the food aid that provides benefits to roughly one in eight Americans.

DOJ ACCUSES FEDERAL JUDGE OF MAKING ‘MOCKERY OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS’ IN SNAP APPEAL

The New Jersey attorney general, Matt Platkin, described the effort by USDA to halt full SNAP payments and shift the costs to states as the "most heinous thing" he had seen while in office. 

"There are more children in New Jersey on SNAP than consists of the entire population of our state's largest city," he said, in an effort to contextualize the number of people in the Garden State alone who are served by the food aid program. 

"The new guidance from USDA "claimed that the steps we've taken to follow its earlier guidance and a court order were ‘unauthorized,’ and that we must immediately undo the actions, or we would face steep penalties," Bonta said. 

Trump officials separately told the Supreme Court on Monday that they will continue to seek their emergency stay of another federal judge’s order requiring them to keep SNAP benefits fully funded during the ongoing government shutdown.

The administration "still intends to pursue a stay" of that order, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court in a filing, barring any eleventh-hour action from Congress to reach consensus and reopen the government after the more than 40-day government shutdown.