SNAP Benefits on Rollercoaster Ride: Courts Block Trump Clawback as Shutdown Battle Rages

BOSTON, MA (November 10, 2025) — In a whirlwind legal saga unfolding by the hour across federal courts, a Massachusetts judge on Monday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s bid to claw back full SNAP food benefits already distributed to millions amid the ongoing government shutdown, the latest twist in a seesaw dispute over aid for 42 million low-income Americans, including 14 million children.

The fluid fight, bouncing from district courts to appeals panels and even the Supreme Court in mere days, pits the administration’s push for partial funding—limited to a $4.5 billion contingency fund—against repeated judicial mandates for full November payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. As of Monday evening, full benefits remained loaded on Electronic Benefit Transfer cards in at least 20 states that issued them before a temporary Supreme Court stay, but the administration pressed on with demands to reverse those distributions, threatening states with financial penalties.

The chaos escalated Saturday night when the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a 10 p.m. memo reversing its own Friday guidance, labeling state issuances of full benefits “unauthorized” and ordering officials to “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.” The directive warned of holding states liable, including by withholding required administrative funding, even as recipients in places like New York began accessing the aid.

More than two dozen states, including New York, fired back with warnings of “catastrophic operational disruptions,” calling any clawback logistically impossible, unfair and illegal after funds hit EBT cards. “In the span of less than a week, USDA has circulated multiple formal guidance documents, each inconsistent with the prior one, forcing the Plaintiffs into a continual state of whiplash,” the states argued in a court filing.

A coalition of 24 attorneys general—spanning Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia—plus governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, raced to U.S. District Court in Massachusetts with an emergency motion for a Temporary Restraining Order to block the reversal.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell had kicked off the rapid-fire rulings on Oct. 31, siding with a lawsuit filed Oct. 28 by nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general led by New York AG Letitia James. That initial complaint, lodged in Massachusetts federal court, accused the Trump administration of illegally withholding November SNAP benefits during the shutdown and demanded use of contingency funds.

McConnell ordered partial funding with the $4.5 billion pot, derailing plans for zero payments. But on Nov. 6, a second federal judge upped the ante, mandating immediate full releases and rejecting partial aid, stressing harm to low-income families and prioritizing SNAP over shifts to programs like WIC for women, infants and children.

States, acting on a Nov. 7 USDA notice that it was “working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances” to comply, transmitted data to vendors and began payouts. That same evening, however, the administration appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay capping aid at partial levels.

Late Friday, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, overseeing Massachusetts emergency matters, issued a temporary administrative stay pausing full-payment requirements pending the appeals court’s word—halting new distributions but sparing those already sent. The administration told states it would still facilitate full payouts per the rulings while fighting on.

Sunday brought another reversal: The 1st Circuit denied the stay request, with Judge Julie Rikelman ruling the “immediate, predictable, and unchallenged harms facing forty-two million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits—including fourteen million children—weigh heavily against a stay.” Her decision reinstated the full-payment order, prompting Boston’s federal court to schedule a Monday hearing on the clawback memo and the coalition’s TRO bid. States decried USDA’s “whipsaw approach”—four contradictory memos in five days—as sparking operational chaos, resource strains and eroded trust in SNAP.

By Monday afternoon, the District Court partially granted the TRO, staying the Saturday USDA directive and shielding states from penalties for following prior orders and agency guidance. The ruling ensures families keep already-distributed funds while a hearing on the full motion probes USDA’s reversal authority and potential Administrative Procedure Act breaches.

New York AG James, whose office sued alongside the coalition, urged recipients to spend benefits freely, reminding retailers they must accept valid EBT balances and providing a hotline for denials. “New Yorkers should not hesitate to use their rightful SNAP benefits as their cards are reloaded,” James said. “If you have your benefits, use them. My office will deal with the federal government in court.”

Solicitor General John Sauer notified the Supreme Court Monday that an end to the shutdown could moot the stay bid, yet the administration doubled down, seeking justices’ nod for partial SNAP only. It continued pressing states to “undo” pre-stay full benefits, eyeing hundreds of millions in reversals, as community responses like Oakland, California’s pop-up food distributions underscored the human toll.

With appeals looming and shutdown talks simmering, the battle over SNAP—vital aid for food-insecure households—remains a high-stakes ping-pong match, where a single ruling can upend access for millions in hours.

In New York, SNAP serves nearly three million people, including nearly one million children and over 600,000 older adults, with about $650 million in monthly benefits.

Westchester County hands out SNAP benefits to about 120,000 residents—one in nine—according to 2023 USDA numbers Along the Sound Shore, from Pelham to Port Chester, roughly eight thousand to ten thousand people swipe EBT cards each month.

• Pelham: 7% • 450 residents out of 6,500 total population
• Pelham Manor: 3.5% • 200 residents out of 5,800 total population
• New Rochelle: 6.8% • 5,500 residents out of 81,000 total population
• Larchmont: 6% • 350 residents out of 6,000 total population
• Mamaroneck: 6.3% • 1,200 residents out of 19,000 total population
• Rye Brook: 4.3% • 400 residents out of 9,300 total population
• Rye: 1.9% • 300 residents out of 16,000 total population
• Port Chester: 9.3% • 2,800 residents out of 30,000 total population

The shutdown has marked the first time in SNAP’s 60-year history that payments were halted, exacerbating delays in some states and overburdening food pantries.

This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.