Washington, D.C. – After the Trump-Vance administration’s lack of compliance with the U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell Jr.’s orders to release November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and a last minute appeal and request for a stay by the government, the First Circuit Court of Appeals tonight preliminarily decided not to halt the flow of food assistance despite the administration’s request to do so. This case was brought by cities, unions, nonprofits, and a retailer because the administration tried to unlawfully freeze food assistance during a shutdown they engineered — cutting off essential support from 42 million people in America. 

The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island has twice ordered the administration to deliver SNAP payments promptly, and most recently to make full November payments — including by using contingency funds. The Court of Appeals tonight denied the government’s request for an administrative stay. Even with this decision, the government has tonight filed a stay application with the U.S. Supreme Court by 9:30 pm ET.

“The Trump-Vance administration continues to attempt — over and over — to take food out of the hands of families, seniors, workers, and children. And every time they tried, the courts told them what the law already makes clear: they cannot,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “American families should not be used as political props in a shutdown that this White House manufactured. Even as the administration attempts – again – through an appeal to the Supreme Court to deprive people of nutrition, we will continue to meet them with effective legal action and secure benefits for the American people.”

Democracy Forward and the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island represent a broad coalition that has fought for this urgent relief in Rhode Island State Council of Churches v. Rollins, including municipalities: City of Albuquerque, New Mexico; City of Baltimore, Maryland; City of Central Falls, Rhode Island; City of Columbus, Ohio; City of Durham, North Carolina; City of New Haven, Connecticut; City of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; City of Providence, Rhode Island; charitable and faith-based nonprofit organizations: Rhode Island State Council of Churches; Amos House; East Bay Community Action Program; Federal Hill House Association; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center; The Milagros Project; the National Council of Nonprofits (NCN); New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG); United Way of Rhode Island; business and union organizations: Main Street Alliance; Black Sheep Market in Greenville, South Carolina; and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). 

Learn more about this case here.

The legal team at Democracy Forward includes Kristin Bateman, Jyoti Jasrasaria, Michael Torcello, Andrew Bookbinder, Adnan Perwez, Robin Thurston, and Skye L. Perryman.