From the Bench

SCOTUS’s November session went off with a bang SNAP.

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s order requiring the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits, allowing the administration to continue with its plan of using contingency funds to cover 65% of benefits. The Department of Agriculture said any states that distributed full SNAP benefits were “unauthorized” and must “undo” those payments or face financial penalties.

The High Court also affirmed the State Department’s policy requiring passports to display individuals’ “sex at birth.” Lower courts had blocked the policy because of “irrational prejudice” against transgender-identifying passport holders, but the 6-3 SCOTUS majority said “attesting to a historical fact” ​​isn’t discriminatory.

Meanwhile, a federal district judge said the DOJ failed to prove protests in Portland required federal intervention, blocking President Trump from deploying National Guardsmen to Oregon. 

Verse to consider whether a decision lands in your favor or goes the other way… “Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the Lord’s decree will prevail.”
Proverbs 19:21 (CSB) (read full passage)