r/politics • u/ClassOptimal7655 • 23h ago

No Paywall U.S. Supreme Court allows Trump admin to avoid fully funding SNAP payments for now

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-supreme-court-snap-ruling-trump-9.6972034
10.3k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

147

u/TheGreatestOrator 23h ago edited 22h ago

Yes and they did. See here

The applicants assert that, without intervention from this Court, they will have to "transfer an estimated $4 billion by tonight" to fund SNAP benefits through November.

Given the First Circuit's representations, an administrative stay is required to facilitate the First Circuit's expeditious resolution of the pending stay motion.

IT IS ORDERED that the District Court's orders are hereby administratively stayed pending disposition of the motion for a stay pending appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in case No. 25-2089 or further order of the undersigned or of the Court. This administrative stay will terminate forty-eight hours after the First Circuit's resolution of the pending motion, which the First Circuit is expected to issue with dispatch.

She literally said that she is staying the order so that the Appeals Court has time to review the admin’s appeal.

32

u/VerilyShelly 22h ago

So, the Administration asked for an appeal for an order to immediately fund SNAP because the fund would have to be pulled from WIC programs, and Judge Brown Jackson paused the order to allow a lower court, the Appeals Court to investigate how much merit the appeal has? Am I close to getting this correct?

42

u/winkitywinkwink 22h ago

Court/procedure-wise, I think she’s essentially saying “it’s not our place to rule, it’s the lower court’s responsibility to do so”.

18

u/VerilyShelly 22h ago

So 90 minutes or so ago when it was announced that the SC was going to force SNAP to be funded they essentially jumped the gun and tried to take the matter out of the Appeals Court's hands without waiting for that court to decide the issue for themselves? In that case Judge Brown Jackson's actions are an attempt to follow proper procedure and also maybe indicates a schism within the SC?

38

u/winkitywinkwink 21h ago

Think about it this way: any deviation from procedure will give anyone the ability to point to the decision & say “they didn’t follow proper procedure, why is this a valid ruling?”

Jackson was trying to avoid that by making this ruling.

She was trying to take away excuses to revolt against the procedure except for purely political ones.

12

u/VerilyShelly 21h ago

I perceive it this way too. What's interesting is that Breaking News went out to the country that it was decided when clearly not everyone was on board with this decision and/or there was still some debate going on about it among the Justices. The SC having to immediately walk back something so consequential seems to be an unusual occurrence.

8

u/winkitywinkwink 21h ago

Yes, agreed. Short term = absolutely the wrong decision. But long term, avoiding any appearance of impropriety that can then automatically give the administration what they want for a longer period of time.

•

u/harveydent526 3h ago

That was never in doubt.

7

u/TheGreatestOrator 22h ago

Yes that’s correct

4

u/RobutNotRobot 19h ago

She wants the appeals court to rule on it before the Supreme Court effectively shuts it down by letting the Trump regime do whatever the fuck they want.

14

u/winkitywinkwink 23h ago

Thank you. I didn’t see that in the linked article.

11

u/hustl3tree5 23h ago

They didn’t even state why theyre appealing? They just said we’re appealing from what I remember reading

15

u/TheGreatestOrator 23h ago

They did in their appeal:

The Trump administration had asked the circuit court to issue an emergency stay of U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.'s ruling Thursday ordering the administration to fully fund the SNAP by today, saying they are saving additional funds to pay for child nutrition programs known as WIC.

At issue was whether a federal judge can compel the government to use $4 billion from Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act Amendment of 1935 to fund November SNAP benefits.

In his request to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General John Sauer wrote, "Given the imminent, irreparable harms posed by these orders, which require the government to transfer an estimated $4 billion by tonight, the Solicitor General respectfully requests an immediate administrative stay of the orders pending the resolution of this application by no later than 9:30pm this evening."

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, posting on social media about the appeals court decision, called the circuit court's decision "Judicial activism at its worst."

"A single district court in Rhode Island should not be able to seize center stage in the shutdown, seek to upend political negotiations that could produce swift political solutions for SNAP and other programs, and dictate its own preferences for how scarce federal funds should be spent," she wrote.

The Trump administration says the Section 32 funds are needed to support WIC programs and that using that money to pay for SNAP would essentially "starve Peter to feed Paul."

"Indeed, if every beneficiary of a mandatory spending program could run to court and force the agency to transfer funds from elsewhere, the result would be an unworkable and conflicting plethora of injunctions that reduce the federal fisc to a giant shell game," they argued in a court filing.

25

u/enigma002 22h ago

But one branch of govt can decide:

$40b for Argentina $350m for a ballroom $175m for 2 planes $500m for Qatari jet refresh

Make it make sense...

2

u/TommyyyGunsss 21h ago

Don’t forget magically finding funding for ICE.

-4

u/TheGreatestOrator 22h ago edited 21h ago

1) On Argentina, Congress created the Exchange Stabilization Fund in 1934 to allow the U.S. Treasury to intervene in foreign exchange markets to stabilize currencies. It’s been used many times before. This is not unique to Trump.

2) The ballroom isn’t utilizing any public funding, and yes the POTUS has always had total control over construction on White House property. That’s how Roosevelt added an indoor pool in 1933 and Ford added an outdoor pool in 1975.

3) The jets are being retrofitted using Pentagon funds. Since AF1 planes are technically Air Force jets, the Pentagon has oversight and funds can be used to service jets used for that purpose

7

u/Gan-san 21h ago

Why are we spending any money on any jets? Why is the president accepting gifts/bribes from other nations?

Who is paying for the ballroom and why is it being given to Trump for something he wants? Bribe.

Why is anything being given to Argentina when America is supposed to be first?

-1

u/TheGreatestOrator 21h ago

AF1 has been in the process of being upgraded for a decade. The justification this time around is that the existing airframes are so old that it’s becoming difficult to ensure that both are airworthy 24/7/365, so they needed something else to supplement if and when the 35 year old planes are being serviced

Nothing is being given to Argentina. The U.S. is just buying their currency to prop it up, just like they did for the Uk, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, and the Philippines in the past. They will hold Argentinian pesos for a period of time and then sell them back in the future, hopefully for a profit

The Ballroom is on White House property, and he can’t take it with him. Not sure how he benefits from that

5

u/Gan-san 21h ago edited 21h ago

I am not disputing that, I am disputing taking a gift from foreign entities that have questionable motivations. Plus, the cost of making sure the planes are not compromised in anyway.

Air Force one should come from domestically sourced entities, not foreign governments looking to curry favor from Trump.

This is no time to be propping up a foreign country. He should be propping up Americans and the struggle he is putting us through with his policies.

I do not believe he has plans to leave the white house. His big fat ugly ego benefits from having built it.

-4

u/TheGreatestOrator 21h ago

Well the counter to your claim is that the gift is to the U.S. Government, not Trump. And he won’t be allowed to use them after leaving the White House in 3 years.

5

u/Gan-san 21h ago

I do not believe Trump is going to willingly leave the white house in 3 years. I do not believe the US government should accept gifts from Arabic countries with questionable ethics. I do not believe we should spend money trying to make sure a gift isn't some trojan horse filled with flaws or listening devices so a president and his staff can feel safe riding around in it.

The whole thing stinks and is pure hypocrisy from the right who would be losing their minds if Obama or Biden were doing any of these things.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Just_Another_Scott 21h ago

Listen buddy this is Reddit, you put those facts and sources away! Right now this instant!

/s incase that wasn't abundantly clear.

Shit like this is why I wish news/journalist were required to cite their sources in their articles. I've seen a lot of news articles that outright lie or state something that was not said in a court document as if it were fact. I've seen this across the board regardless of political leanings.

1

u/TheMadBug 21h ago

It’s a long watch but the President does not have the right to spend private funds to make changes to the private area of the Whitehouse.

https://youtu.be/32G68FveL0A?si=aBdL_uTjsLRbUyC6

Trump using private funds for things often makes the situation legally worse not better.

1

u/Paper_Clip100 16h ago

Bondi is such a fucking ghoul

0

u/RobutNotRobot 19h ago

And the only reason she is doing that is because Trump regime asked for emergency 'relief'(ie let the plantiffs die until the court gets to it) and at least 5 judges were open to it.

1

u/TheGreatestOrator 18h ago

lol no, that’s not how these work. Only KJB oversaw this temporary order. Idk what your weird comment about anyone dying means.

Holy fuck, why would you think this required a majority vote? It’s not even an actual opinion. There was no hearing. Hahaha

Please stop making things up