What happened
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson administratively stayed two Rhode Island federal court orders that required federal officials to fully fund November benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and distribute that funding by the end of Nov. 7, 2025.
The emergency order gives the First Circuit time to decide the government’s pending request for a stay while the appeal proceeds. Justice Jackson said an administrative stay was “required to facilitate the First Circuit’s expeditious resolution” of the stay motion.
The applicants, including Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins, asked the Supreme Court for relief after the First Circuit denied an administrative stay earlier that evening but said it intended to act on the broader stay-pending-appeal motion as quickly as possible.
The challenged district court orders came from litigation in the District of Rhode Island and required the government to fully fund SNAP benefits for November and distribute the money by the end of the day on Nov. 7. The government told the Supreme Court that without intervention it would have to transfer an estimated $4 billion that night to fund the benefits through November.
The Supreme Court order does not decide the merits of the funding dispute. It temporarily pauses the district court directives until the First Circuit resolves the government’s stay motion, unless Justice Jackson or the full Court orders otherwise.
The administrative stay is set to terminate 48 hours after the First Circuit rules on the pending motion, which the order said the appeals court was expected to issue with dispatch.