Supreme Court allows Trump admin to temporarily withhold some SNAP payments this month

The Supreme Court on Friday night temporarily allowed the Trump administration to withhold roughly $4 billion in payments for the SNAP food assistance program that a federal judge had ordered.

The high court made the ruling through an order issued by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that provisionally blocked an order previously issued by Rhode Island-based U.S. District Judge John McConnell that required the payments to be made by Friday night, according to NBC News. 

The administration has said there is only enough money to pay partial benefits this month as a result of the government shutdown.

McConnell on Thursday afternoon ordered the administration to deliver full payments to states by Friday.

The administration had previously agreed to pay about $5 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, contingency fund but objected to paying an additional $4 billion from a separate program, arguing McConnell had no authority to force it to do so.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted the administration's request to immediately block McConnell’s order while the court considers the case in more detail, then turned to the Supreme Court, NBC News also reports.

Jackson, the justice assigned to handle appeals from the Boston-based appeals court, said in her order a temporary stay was required so to allow the appeals court to fully consider the government's application.