A federal appeals court ruled late Sunday that the Trump administration can be forced to pay full food benefits in November, putting the onus on the Supreme Court to decide whether the administration can avoid paying benefits that feed more than 40 million people.

The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit declined to block a lower court order requiring the administration to move funds to pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, for November.

In Sunday’s order, Judge Julie Rikelman wrote that allowing partial payments for SNAP would cause immense harm nationwide for the more than 40 million people in the program.

“Without SNAP, tens of millions would go hungry — the first among a cascade of

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