Washington: The U.S. Supreme Court has approved the Trump administration's emergency request to temporarily halt a lower court's mandate requiring full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food aid payments during the ongoing government shutdown. This decision has introduced uncertainty regarding the distribution of the nation's largest anti-hunger initiative.

According to Namibia Press Agency, John McConnell, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, had ruled last week that the Agriculture Department must use a contingency fund to support SNAP "as soon as possible." The department subsequently announced the allocation of 4.65 billion U.S. dollars from the contingency fund for November's SNAP benefits, which would cover 50 percent of eligible households' current allotments.

Despite McConnell's order on Thursday for the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, Justice Department attorneys appealed both this ruling and McConnell's earlier directive. The administration requested that the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals suspend any rulings obligating it to exceed the available contingency funds and sought approval to implement partial SNAP payments for the month.

The Trump administration approached the Supreme Court on Friday, seeking a stay on the lower judge's order for full food stamp benefits in November. However, the appeals court denied the administration's request for a temporary pause.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson intervened on Friday night, temporarily halting the mandate for full SNAP payments for two days, pending a decision from the appeals court on a potential longer pause. The justice did not address the legality of the White House's actions.

The SNAP program, which supports 42 million Americans, approximately one-eighth of the population and mostly those living below the poverty line, exhausted its funds on November 1 for the first time in history.