Heidi Li FeldmanNov 2
Yesterday, federal judge John McConnell of the district court of Rhode Island issued written order requiring the Trump regime to fully fund November SNAP benefits by tomorrow or in the alternative, and assuming it can do so reasonably, to exercise its discretion to fund partially and do so by Wednesday. As with earlier order from a different SNAP case, I expect Trump regime to appeal, no money to flow this week. 1/ #LawFedi
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.60750/gov.uscourts.rid.60750.19.0.pdf
Show threadHeidi Li FeldmanNov 2
Plaintiffs in the case include cities and organizations who are suing on behalf of themselves and residents, members, and clients who rely on SNAP to eat. (So, different from the case brought by the states, which is about the harm the states themselves are suffering due to Trump regime’s refusal to participate in SNAP funding/admin for November.) 2/
Show threadHeidi Li FeldmanNov 2
McConnell’s order rests on the same legal grounds as judge Talwani’s in the SNAP case brought by the states. McConnell concludes that the there are no reasonable grounds for the Trump regime to suspend SNAP funds for Nov, only arbitrary and capricious ones. Contingency money has been appropriated by Congress and other, discretionary funds are available. 3/
Show threadHeidi Li FeldmanNov 2
Along the way, McConnell’s order makes some noteworthy points. He rejects the regime’s claim that a good reason for its refusal to use appropriated contingency funds is that these only cover November partially, and it is too inconvenient for the regime to sort out partial funding. He observes that if this is true, the regime should just use additional available funds and wholly fund. 4/
Show threadHeidi Li FeldmanNov 2
Trump regime required to tell court by noon Monday its plan for complying with order. But I expect requests to stay the order before then. 5/5
Show threadCavyherd

@heidilifeldman

What are the consequences of the regime •not• complying with this order?

(This is my concern about the court orders: yes, lovely, thank you. But w/o actual consequences, what's their incentive to comply? Is it too much to hope that there's, like, jail time in the toolkit?)

Nov 2 at 8:20pmWeb
Show threadMarisaNov 2
@cavyherd @heidilifeldman exactly my thought.