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America's top court has issued an emergency order that permits for now the Trump administration to delay billions in funding for nutrition assistance relied on by countless needy U.S. residents.

The White House sought relief from the Supreme Court after a federal judge ruled that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called food aid, should be distributed completely to beneficiaries by the end of the week.

The programme has been left in limbo by the ongoing federal government shutdown, with the government arguing it could only afford to partially fund it.

The court's decision means $4bn can be temporarily withheld pending further legal hearings.

Programme Impact

This nutrition aid is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - around one in eight - and requires almost $9bn a month.

On Thursday, a federal magistrate, John McConnell, accused the government of blocking nutrition funds "due to political motives" and said that without the aid "16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry".

The judge mandated the government to pay out the programme in full.

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling followed another that required the government to use contingency funds to at least partly pay for the programme for November.

This court battle was spurred after the USDA, which oversees the Snap programme, stated payments would be stopped in November due to the budget shortfall over the budget crisis.

Prior to the high court's action, the USDA said it was working to comply with the multiple rulings and was making efforts to doll out the full funds.

Supreme Court Action

High Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, called an administrative stay, effectively freezing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while government lawyer's seek to overturn it.

This dispute over food aid funding has become one of the bitterest of what is now the lengthiest budget standoff in US history.

Wider Effects

Government workers have been without pay for more than a month and flight operations has been disrupted as Democratic and Republican lawmakers fail to agree a deal to fund the government.

Several states have drawn on their own budget savings to keep Snap payments flowing, which are valued at around six dollars to users via pre-loaded debit cards which can be used in grocery stores.

But some states have said they are cannot cover the money which has been cut by the U.S. treasury.