Judge Orders Trump Administration to Fully Fund SNAP by Friday After Heated Hearing

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to issue full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments within 24 hours, saying the government’s failure to do so has caused “irreparable harm” to millions of low-income Americans.

“This should never happen in America,” U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell Jr. said from the bench. “In fact, it is likely that recipients are hungry as we sit here.”

Within hours, the Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling, making it unclear when recipients can expect their benefits to arrive.

The ruling came after SNAP benefits lapsed last weekend for the first time in the program’s history. McConnell said the administration failed to comply with his earlier order directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make partial payments and to use available contingency funds to do so.

“The order to use contingency funds was not permissive — it was mandatory,” McConnell said. He added that the administration “arbitrarily and capriciously created this problem by ignoring the congressional mandate for contingency funds and failing to notify the states.”

The judge also cited recent public statements from the president and senior administration officials acknowledging that full SNAP payments were withheld for political reasons. “Given the numerous statements made in recent weeks by the president and his administration officials who admit to withholding full SNAP benefits for political reasons.” he said.

In a Tuesday Truth Social post, President Trump said SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!” Hours later, the White House’s Press Secretary claimed that the administration would comply with the court order issued last week.

McConnell found that Section 32 funds — tariff revenue set aside by Congress to fund nutrition programs administered by the USDA — could legally be used to cover SNAP payments, noting there is “no statute prohibiting USDA from using the funding for SNAP.” He said the administration had previously relied on the same account to fund the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), “undermining” its current argument against doing so for SNAP.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.

“Today is a major victory for 42 million people in America.” Said Sky Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward (one of the groups involved in the lawsuit) in a statement to NOTUS, adding, “The court could not be more clear – the Trump-Vance administration must stop playing politics with people’s lives by delaying SNAP payments they are obligated to issue.”