Court rulings Friday found the Trump administration has unlawfully suspended food assistance to millions of Americans.
Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ordered November benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to be paid using the program’s more than $5 billion contingency fund.
Administration officials have blamed the federal government shutdown for the funding lapse. Many federal agencies have been closed since Oct. 1, when Congress failed to pass annual budget legislation.
Despite the court rulings, SNAP benefits won’t be immediately available — the process now begins to compel the administration to actually direct funds to the program.
Officials have indicated the administration intends to comply with the court orders, but the time frame for restarting benefit payments remained unclear.
Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani sought a response from the administration no later than Monday.
“Defendants shall advise the court whether they will authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November and, if so, their timeline for determining whether to authorize only reduced SNAP benefits using the Contingency Funds or to authorize full SNAP benefits using both the Contingency Funds and additional available funds,” Talwani wrote in her ruling.
California was among 25 states and governors plus the District of Columbia that sued the federal government last week over the halt to food aid, which funds state programs such as CalFresh.
“I’m proud to see courts agree that the Trump Administration has a legal responsibility to support the SNAP program,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “The USDA needs to release all available funding for this critical program immediately. We’re not going to sit idly by while families go hungry. It’s cruel, it’s immoral, and it’s beneath us as a nation. California will keep fighting to make sure people get the food assistance they need and deserve.”
The White House referred comment to the administration’s Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins administers federal food assistance funds.
In a social media post Monday, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said President Donald Trump “is doing everything he can to help our most vulnerable mothers and babies while Radical Left Democrats continue to obstruct. Today, full November WIC benefits will be disbursed to States.”
Rollins said administration officials submitted a plan to the courts to distribute “partial allotments to SNAP households.” She called the November funding and plan for partial benefit payments as “STOPGAP measures that create unnecessary chaos in State systems and distribution of benefits.”
Rollins estimated it will take several weeks to execute partial payments.
“THIS MUST END. Senate Democrats need to quit the games, quit holding American families hostage to ridiculous demands like health care for illegals, and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT,” Rollins concluded her X post. “Once they do, FULL benefits can get to families without delay.”
In compliance with the court orders, the USDA intends to completely deplete $4.65 billion that remains of SNAP contingency funds and provide 50% reduced SNAP benefits for November, according to the USDA’s report on compliance with the Rhode Island court’s temporary restraining order. The USDA must make partial payments to state food assistance agencies no later than Wednesday.
“This means that no funds will remain for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely,” according to a declaration to the Rhode Island court by Patrick A. Penn, the USDA deputy undersecretary who oversees food aid funding.
The Rhode Island ruling directed the USDA to either fully pay November benefits with diverted funds from the Section 32 Child Nutrition Program, or to use contingency funds for partial payments.
“Using billions of dollars from Child Nutrition for SNAP would leave an unprecedented gap in Child Nutrition funding that Congress has never had to fill with annual appropriations, and USDA cannot predict what Congress will do under these circumstances,” Penn said in court papers on why the USDA opted to use contingency funds.
“The Trump Administration knows that it has a legal duty to fund SNAP benefits, even during the current government shutdown,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “In fact, just last month, the USDA admitted as much in a document that it later deleted from its website. SNAP benefits provide an essential hunger safety net to an average of 5.5 million Californians each month. Simply put, the stakes could not be higher.”
The Rhode Island federal lawsuit was brought by a coalition of local governments, nonprofit organizations, small businesses and workers’ rights organizations.
The judge in that case directed the USDA to fund November SNAP benefits using at least the over $5 billion in available contingency funds.
SNAP requires about $8.9 billion per month, according to Talwani’s ruling.
LA County and other municipalities in the region and nationwide were ramping up efforts to provide food assistance amid the federal shutdown with food distribution events and other efforts.
Updated Nov. 4, 2025, 9:13 a.m.
