Reuters reported that the U.S. Supreme Court put a hold on a lower court’s order to fully fund the SNAP program, which provides food for low-income people. About one of every eight Americans will go hungry because of the Court’s order. The lower federal district court in Rhode Island ordered the administration to fully fund SNAP. An appeals court declined to overrule the Rhode Island order. The administration was willing to offer about half of the funds needed.

But Chief Justice John Roberts concluded there was no rush to feed hungry people. I bet he went home to a dinner of steak, potatoes, green beans, and salad, accompanied by a splendid Cabernet.

The New York Times, however, said it was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who halted the lower court order. She too had a grand meal tonight while 42 million Americans go hungry. Let’s see: filet of sole and salad with a bottle of Chardonnay.

The New York Times reported:

Food stamps: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson late Friday temporarily halted a lower court order that would have required the Trump administration to fund food stamps in full, fueling new uncertainty around the anti-hunger program’s immediate fate. The justice did not rule on the legality of the White House’s actions. Instead, she imposed a pause meant to give an appeals court more time to weigh the legal arguments raised by the government, as it seeks to withhold funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the shutdown. Some states had already said that they were preparing to send out full food stamp benefits. 

Reuters reported:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to withhold for now about $4 billion needed to fully fund a food aid program for 42 million low-income Americans this month amid the federal government shutdown.

The court’s action, known as an administrative stay, gives a lower court additional time to consider the administration’s formal request to only partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, for November. Chief Justice John Roberts, who issued the stay, set it to expire in two days.

The administration had filed an emergency request hours earlier asking the justices to put on hold a Rhode Island-based judge’s order that gave the administration until Friday to fully fund the program, which costs $8.5 billion to $9 billion per month.