In a late Sunday decision, a federal appeals court dismissed the Trump administration’s attempt to stop an order mandating full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the ongoing government shutdown.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, composed of three judges, determined that a lower court judge acted within his discretion. The judge had concluded that the government’s proposed partial payments for food stamps would lead to unacceptable delays.

“The government was aware that implementing partial payments would be technically challenging, as such a process had not been attempted before,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Julie Rikelman, representing the unanimous decision from the panel.

Judge Rikelman further elaborated, stating, “Despite this awareness, the government failed to take any action to address the problem over the subsequent three weeks. It did not perform calculations, prepare necessary tables, or take any logistical measures to handle the anticipated shortfall.”

The ruling upholds U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s directive that demands officials to cover the shortfall in November’s SNAP payments by reallocating approximately $4 billion from child nutrition funds. The Trump administration has contended that such a move would put those programs at an unacceptable risk.

Currently, the payments remain temporarily suspended due to a Friday night ruling by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. However, the appeals court’s decision sets a 48-hour countdown for Jackson’s hold to expire.

It also comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill move closer to reopening the government. Just before the appeals ruling, the Senate advanced a vehicle to end the 41-day shutdown after a group of Democrats joined Republicans to provide the necessary votes. 

The 1^st Circuit panel comprised two appointees of former President Joe Biden — Rikelman and U.S. Circuit Judge Gustavo Gelpí — and U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. 

The Trump administration appealed after McConnell, another Obama appointee, ruled the administration was acting arbitrarily and capriciously by not transferring the child nutrition funds to fully fund SNAP during the shutdown.

Earlier, McConnell had ruled the administration needed to, at a minimum, deplete a $5 billion SNAP emergency fund.  

It was not enough to cover November benefits, and McConnell said officials needed to devise a way to recalculate partial payments expeditiously or tap other funding sources to fill the remaining gap. After the government said partial benefits would cause delays, the judge ordered the full payments be sent by last Friday. 

“That unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” the Justice Department wrote in court filings. 

“The core power of Congress is that of the purse, while the Executive is tasked with allocating limited resources across competing priorities. But here, the court below took the current shutdown as effective license to declare a federal bankruptcy and appoint itself the trustee, charged with picking winners and losers among those seeking some part of the limited pool of remaining federal funds,” the filing continued.