In a late Sunday decision, a federal appeals court denied the Trump administration’s request to stop an order mandating full disbursement of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits amid the government shutdown. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1^st Circuit’s three-judge panel determined that the lower court judge did not overstep in concluding that the government’s plan for partial SNAP payments would lead to unacceptable delays.

Writing for the unanimous panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Julie Rikelman noted, “The administration was fully aware that implementing partial payments would be technically challenging, as this approach had never been attempted before.”

Judge Rikelman further criticized the government for failing to address the issue over the subsequent three weeks, stating, “No calculations were made, no tables were prepared, and no logistical steps were taken to handle a potential shortfall.”

This ruling upholds U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s order, which requires officials to bridge the SNAP payment gap for November by reallocating approximately $4 billion from child nutrition funds. The Trump administration had contended that this action posed a risk to those programs.

It keeps in place U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s requirement that officials fill the remaining gap for November SNAP payments by transferring roughly $4 billion in child nutrition funds, which the Trump administration argued would unacceptably put those programs at risk. 

The payments remain on temporary hold under a Friday night ruling from Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, but the appeals court’s decision begins a 48-hour clock 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.