ALSO SEE: Trump Admin Tells States to 'Immediately Undo' Steps to Fund November SNAP Benefits

Back-and-forth court rulings have led to confusion and frustration over subsidies that help 42 million recipients pay for groceries.

A U.S. appeals court Sunday night denied the Trump administration’s efforts to stop the release of full funding for November’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments as ordered by a lower court judge.

The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit said a district court had acted within its discretion in concluding “the overwhelming evidence of widespread harm” from halting the payments outweighed the potential harm to the government and the Child Nutrition Programs.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision, prolonging the tug-of-war over the nation’s largest public initiative to combat hunger. Tens of millions of Americans are at risk of food insecurity as winter nears.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday temporarily blocked the district court order until the 1st Circuit issued its ruling. The Supreme Court’s administrative stay will expire 48 hours after the 1st Circuit’s ruling.

On Monday morning, Jackson issued an order directing the Trump administration to tell the Supreme Court by 11 a.m. whether it plans to continue trying to pause the lower court rulings. If it does intend to seek a stay, Jackson wrote, the Trump administration must submit its filing in the case by 4 p.m. Monday. She also told plaintiffs in the case pushing to release SNAP benefits — a group that includes several cities and nonprofits — to respond by 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The 1st Circuit court’s Sunday night ruling is the latest in a legal battle that has played out for weeks involving SNAP, a program relied on by 42 million Americans. The government shutdown has thrown funding for the program in limbo even as various lawsuits play out. (The Senate on Sunday voted to take the first step toward reopening the government, though the process could take several days. The House would also need to pass any measure.)

The Trump administration said it was ready to make partial payments for November benefits while the shutdown continued, but the U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island directed the administration to make full payments by Friday by using other funds.

“Such conduct is more than poor judgment; it is arbitrary and capricious,” wrote McConnell, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.

SNAP, also known as food stamps, is a vital lifeline for millions of people who rely on it to afford groceries. The Trump administration had told state officials Friday that it was working to release the benefits to comply with the judge’s order, suggesting that the money would indeed be disbursed. But the administration also asked the Supreme Court to halt that order.

In her ruling Friday that temporarily paused the lower court’s directives, Jackson — who oversees cases from that appellate court — did not rule on the legal arguments in the case. She wrote that a short-term stay was needed “to facilitate the First Circuit’s expeditious resolution of the pending stay motion.”

With the late-hour Supreme Court order, many of the country’s poorest families woke Saturday morning uncertain whether they would continue to receive aid to restock their cupboards. Before the decision, several states were ready to reload debit cards with money.

Democrats criticized the Trump administration, contending it was allowing Americans to go hungry. “President Trump’s cruelty knows no bounds,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) said on X.

The back-and-forth court rulings have led to different outcomes for SNAP recipients across the country. Scheduled SNAP payments in Massachusetts went out Saturday morning, according to Healey. But North Carolina was able to issue only partial-month SNAP benefits on Friday morning and had to pause full payments over the weekend.“This is about a basic necessity — food — being caught in the middle of political chaos,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) said in a statement. “The hard-working people and families who rely on SNAP benefits deserve certainty, not confusion about whether they’ll be able to put meals on the table this weekend and the rest of the month.”