The Supreme Court agreed to keep in place its stay of a lower court order requiring USDA to provide full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for November. The stay is to last 48 hours, until Thursday
The government’s application for a stay of U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.’s order was initially granted by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday, Nov. 7, but it was due to expire Tuesday night, 48 hours after the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a pair of temporary restraining orders from McConnell, which that court did late Sunday by denying the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal.
In its brief order, the court said Tuesday night that Jackson’s initial stay would be extended until Thursday at 11:59 p.m..
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here
Jackson “would deny the request for extension of the administrative stay and would deny the application,” the order says, without further explanation.
The order said the stay application from the government that was presented to Jackson had been referred to the court.
In a brief filed with the Supreme Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said "the answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority. The only way to end this crisis — which the Executive is adamant to end— is for Congress to reopen the government."
That could happen by Wednesday.
USDA had argued that it should not be forced to use Section 32 funding to supplement a SNAP contingency fund to provide full SNAP payments to states. Cities, nonprofits and states had sued in separate federal courts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to force USDA to pay at least partial benefits.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
