(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge said Monday that she will continue to block the Trump administration from enforcing a memo directing states to “undo” the issuance of full SNAP benefits. 

The administration is currently seeking to “undo” hundreds of millions of dollars in SNAP benefits that went out after the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which operates the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, told states Friday afternoon that it was “working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances” to comply with a court order.

During a tense hearing Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani rebuked the Trump administration for “trying to play vindictive games” with states that sent benefits to SNAP recipients. 

“It would seem to me that if the agency is trying to comply with the law and with the executive branch’s preferences on policies, a piece of that wouldn’t be trying to play vindictive games with the states. That’s not part of it,” said Talwani, who said she planned to issue a written ruling later Monday. 

The USDA sent out its initial guidance after U.S. District Judge McConnell on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP by Friday — but on Saturday the USDA told states that they must “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

Twenty states said they had already begun the process of issuing full November benefits.

“What you have right now is confusion of the agency’s own making,” Judge Talwani said. 

The Trump administration, meanwhile, asked the Supreme Court Monday to stay the order requiring full payment of November SNAP benefits in order to allow Congress to finalize an end to the ongoing government shutdown without judicial interference. 

“The irreparable harms of allowing district courts to inject themselves into the shutdown and decide how to triage limited funds are grave enough to warrant a stay,” wrote Solicitor General John Sauer. 

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who paused the order late Friday night, is expected to revisit it Tuesday.

Sauer, in an earlier filing, told the court that if the government reopens, its request would become moot — but in the meantime, the administration is making clear that it still wants the justices to allow it to make an only a partial payment of SNAP benefits for the month. 

The administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday for an emergency stay of a ruling by U.S. District Judge John McConnell ordering the administration to fully fund SNAP for the month of November, saying it would partially fund SNAP with approximately $4.5 billion but that it needed the remaining funds to support WIC programs that feed children.

Justice Jackson granted the stay, pending a decision on the administration’s appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Late Sunday, the circuit court denied the administration’s appeal, rejecting the administration’s argument that harm suffered by the government by complying with the order would outweigh the harm suffered by the millions of Americans who rely on the food assistance program. 

“These immediate, predictable, and unchallenged harms facing forty-two million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits — including fourteen million children — weigh heavily against a stay,” wrote Judge Julie Rikelman. 

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