In a significant development on Friday, the Supreme Court responded to an emergency plea from the Trump administration, opting to temporarily halt a court mandate that called for the full funding of SNAP food assistance payments during the ongoing government shutdown. This decision comes despite some states having already disbursed the funds to residents.

A judicial directive had previously required the Republican administration to ensure the disbursement of full payments via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by Friday. However, the administration sought relief from an appeals court, requesting a suspension of any orders that would compel it to allocate more than the available contingency funds. Their intention was to continue with the originally planned partial SNAP payments for the month instead.

Following the refusal of a Boston appeals court to intervene immediately, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stepped in late Friday with an order temporarily suspending the requirement for full SNAP payments. This pause will remain effective until the appeals court makes a decision on whether to impose a more long-term halt. Justice Jackson, who oversees emergency matters from Massachusetts, issued this crucial order.

Her directive is set to last until 48 hours post the appeals court’s decision, allowing the administration the opportunity to return to the Supreme Court should the appeals court decline to act in their favor.

The SNAP program is vital as it serves approximately one in every eight Americans, primarily aiding those with lower incomes. As of Friday, officials from over half a dozen states confirmed that some SNAP recipients had already received full November payments. However, Justice Jackson’s order may impede the distribution of these payments in other states.

Officials in more than a half-dozen states confirmed that some SNAP recipients already were issued full November payments on Friday. But Jackson’s order could prevent other states from initiating the payments.

Which states issued SNAP payments

In Wisconsin, more than $104 million of monthly food benefits became available at midnight on electronic cards for about 337,000 households, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said. The state was able to access the federal money so quickly by submitting a request to its electronic benefit card vendor to process the SNAP payments within hours of a Thursday court order to provide full benefits.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said state employees “worked through the night” to issue full November benefits “to make sure every Oregon family relying on SNAP could buy groceries” by Friday.

Hawaii had the information for November’s monthly payments ready to go, so it could submit it quickly for processing after Thursday’s court order — and before a higher court could potentially pause it, Joseph Campos II, deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services, told The Associated Press.

“We moved with haste once we verified everything,” Campos said.

Trump’s administration told the Supreme Court that the fast-acting states were “trying to seize what they could of the agency’s finite set of remaining funds, before any appeal could even be filed, and to the detriment of other States’ allotments.”

“Once those billions are out the door, there is no ready mechanism for the government to recover those funds,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the court filing.

Officials in California, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington state also said they moved quickly to issue full SNAP benefits Friday, while other states said they expected full benefits to arrive over the weekend or early next week. Still others said they were waiting for further federal guidance.

Many SNAP recipients face uncertainty

The court wrangling prolonged weeks of uncertainty for Americans with lower incomes.

An individual can receive a monthly maximum food benefit of nearly $300 and a family of four up to nearly $1,000, although many receive less than that under a formula that takes into consideration their income.

For some SNAP participants, it remained unclear when they would receive their benefits.

Jasmen Youngbey of Newark, New Jersey, waited in line Friday at a food pantry in the state’s largest city. As a single mom attending college, Youngbey said she relies on SNAP to help feed her 7-month-old and 4-year-old sons. But she said her account balance was at $0.

“Not everybody has cash to pull out and say, ‘OK, I’m going to go and get this,’ especially with the cost of food right now,” she said.

Later Friday, Youngbey said, she received her monthly SNAP benefits.

The legal battle over SNAP takes another twist

Because of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally had said SNAP benefits would not be available in November. However, two judges ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the shutdown. One of those judges was U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., who ordered the full payments Thursday.

In both cases, the judges ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month.

On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program and that the other money was needed to shore up other child hunger programs.

Thursday’s federal court order rejected the Trump administration’s decision to cover only 65% of the maximum monthly benefit, a decision that could have left some recipients getting nothing for this month.

In its court filings Friday, Trump’s administration contended that the judge usurped both legislative and executive authority in ordering SNAP benefits to be fully funded.

“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers,” Sauer told the Supreme Court.

States are taking different approaches to food aid

Some states said they stood ready to distribute SNAP money as quickly as possible.

Colorado and Massachusetts said SNAP participants could receive their full November payments as soon as Saturday. New York said access to full SNAP benefits should begin by Sunday. New Hampshire said full benefits should be available by this weekend. Arizona and Connecticut said full benefits should be accessible in the coming days.

Officials in North Carolina said they distributed partial SNAP payments Friday and full benefits could be available by this weekend. Officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Dakota also said they distributed partial November payments.

Amid the federal uncertainty, Delaware’s Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer said the state used its own funds Friday to provide the first of what could be a weekly relief payment to SNAP recipients.

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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri; Bauer from Madison, Wisconsin; and Catalini from Newark, New Jersey. Associated Press writers Mark Sherman in Washington; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix; Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Anthony Izaguirre in New York; Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu; Mingson Lau in Claymont, Delaware; John O’Connor, in Springfield, Illinois; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Colleen Slevin in Denver; and Tassanee Vejpongsa in Philadelphia contributed to this report.