WASHINGTON – – The Supreme Court on Nov. 11 again declined to order the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP food benefits, giving Congress time to resolve the issue through a pending deal to end the government shutdown.

The court kept a district judge's funding order on hold through Nov. 13, freezing action without considering which side has the better legal arguments.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had previously paused the district judge's funding deadline while the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was considering it. The request went to Jackson, the justice who handles emergency appeals from that part of the country, putting one of the court's three liberal justices in the awkward position of granting a request from the administration on an issue of top concern for Democrats.

Still, Jackson in the latest order disagreed with the majority's decision to extend the pause on full funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

The House is expected to vote on Wednesday to reopen the government through Jan. 30 and cover full-year funding for several agencies and programs, including food aid and veterans' benefits.

The Justice Department argued the lower courts threw a “massively inappropriate new variable” into negotiations over the shutdown and sowed upheaval in the SNAP program itself.

"Congress appears to be on the brink of breaking the deadlock, though that outcome is unsure," Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the Justice Department's appeal. "The district court’s unlawful orders risk upsetting that compromise and throwing into doubt how innumerable critical federal programs will be funded."

U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island had ordered the administration to use a combination of contingency SNAP funds and other money to make the full November payments to states by Nov. 7.

The appeals court backed McConnell’s decision that the risk of leaving tens of millions of Americans without food outweighed the government’s concern about using different funds to cover the SNAP shortfall.

Lawyers for the local governments, non-profit organizations and others who sued the administration told the Supreme Court families should not have to wait any longer for assistance.

“There is no justification for the Court to step in to stop needed benefits from flowing to the children, seniors, low wage workers, veterans, and others who rely on them for food,” the challengers wrote in response to the administration’s appeal.

The government’s claim that the judge’s order interfered with federal funding negotiations “only confirms what has been clear all along – that the government is leveraging SNAP to gain partisan political advantage in the shutdown fight,” they wrote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court keeps pause on SNAP food benefits as shutdown comes to end

Reporting by Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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