The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration in its ongoing battle against activist judges and overreaching state attorneys general.
The high court on Tuesday issued an emergency stay, blocking a lower court order that would have unconstitutionally forced the administration to make full, unauthorized payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the ongoing government shutdown.
This move by the Supreme Court is a major, common-sense rebuke to the radical Left and their allies on the bench. It affirms what the administration has been saying all along: Federal courts do not have the power to “reallocate resources” and spend money that Congress has not appropriated.
A Manufactured Crisis by the Radical Left
Let’s be perfectly clear about why this has reached the Supreme Court. This is a 100% manufactured crisis, created by the do-nothing Democrats in Congress.
The Democrats caused this government shutdown by refusing to pass a funding bill, all in an effort to hold the government hostage for their radical, open-borders, and inflationary spending policies.
As a result, funding for programs like SNAP lapsed for the first time in its 60-year history.
Faced with this Democratic-created crisis, the Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) stepped in to find a solution. They acted responsibly, using the agency’s contingency fund to pay 65% of SNAP benefits for November. This was a logical, legal, and temporary fix to a problem they didn’t create.
But for the radical Left, this responsible solution was not enough. They want a crisis.
The Activist Judge and the Open-Borders States
Instead of demanding that their own party in Congress do its job and pass a funding bill, more than two dozen activist state attorneys general ran to a friendly, liberal judge to sue the Trump administration.
And, predictably, a federal judge in Massachusetts—one of the most liberal circuits in the country—did their bidding. This judge ordered the administration to spend money it legally does not have, demanding it fund 100% of SNAP benefits for the month.
This is judicial activism at its worst. This is a single, unelected judge attempting to seize the power of the purse, a power that the Constitution explicitly gives only to Congress.
As U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer correctly argued to the Supreme Court, “the answer to this crisis is not for federal courts to reallocate resources without lawful authority.”
He is 100% right. This is a “mockery of the separation of powers,” as the DOJ noted in a separate filing.
The Supreme Court Slams the Brakes
The Trump administration, refusing to bow to this unconstitutional judicial tyranny, sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, the high court agreed, extending the emergency stay and keeping the activist Massachusetts judge’s order frozen.
This is a temporary win for the rule of law. The Supreme Court has, for now, affirmed that judges cannot simply invent money or order the President to spend money that Congress has not authorized.
This decision, though temporary, is a major blow to the 20+ states that sued. They are the ones, as the state attorneys general told the court, who “unleashed… chaos” by running to a friendly judge instead of calling their own senators to end the shutdown.
‘The Most Heinous Thing I’ve Seen’
The rhetoric from these radical state AGs has been completely unhinged.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin held a press conference on Monday to engage in pure, political theater. He called the Trump administration’s legal and responsible actions “the most heinous thing” he had seen while in office.
“Heinous”?
What is actually “heinous” is that a sitting Attorney General would rather sue the President than pick up the phone and tell his own state’s Democratic senators to do their jobs and fund the government.
What is “heinous” is that these activist AGs are lying to 42 million Americans, telling them a judge can fix a problem that only Congress can solve. They are “playing politics with SNAP benefits,” accusing the President of the very thing they are doing.
The Real Solution: End the Shutdown
The Trump administration has been crystal clear from the beginning. As the Solicitor General stated, “The only way to end this crisis — which the executive is adamant to end — is for Congress to reopen the government.”
This entire legal circus is a distraction. The SNAP benefits are not being held by President Trump. They are being held by the radical Democrats in Congress.
This Supreme Court stay is a message to those states: Stop suing, and start legislating. Stop trying to get activist judges to do your job for you.
President Trump and his administration have acted responsibly by providing 65% of funding through legal contingency funds. The Supreme Court has acted responsibly by pausing an unconstitutional order.
The only people acting irresponsibly are the Democrats in Congress who started this shutdown, and the activist state AGs who are trying to profit from it politically.