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America's top court has granted an urgent ruling that permits for now the Trump administration to withhold billions of dollars for nutrition assistance relied on by millions of low-income Americans.

The White House appealed to the country's highest court after a federal judge ordered that the SNAP program, also known as food aid, should be paid out in full to recipients by the end of the week.

The programme has been left in limbo by the continuing budget impasse, with the government claiming it could only afford to partially fund it.

Friday's ruling means £3.04bn can be held back for now pending further legal hearings.

SNAP's Reach

This nutrition aid is issued by tens of millions of U.S. citizens - approximately 12% - and requires almost £6.9bn a month.

Earlier this week, a federal magistrate, the presiding judge, alleged the government of withholding food aid "due to political motives" and said that without the aid "millions of kids are immediately at risk of going hungry".

The judge mandated the administration to pay out the assistance in full.

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling came after that ordered the government to dip into reserve money to at least partially fund the programme for November.

The legal saga was spurred after the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program, announced benefits would be stopped in November due to the lack of funding over the budget crisis.

Prior to the high court's action, the Agriculture Department said it was working to comply with the various court orders and was making efforts to distribute the full funds.

Supreme Court Action

High Court Judge Justice Jackson issued the order late Friday, known as an temporary halt, pausing the previous decision for 48 hours while government lawyer's pursue an appeal.

The row over nutrition program money has become among the most contentious of what is now the longest government shutdown in US history.

Wider Effects

Government workers have been unpaid for more than a month and flight operations has been disrupted as Congress members fail to agree a deal to pass a budget.

Some states have drawn on their own financial reserves to keep Snap payments going, which are worth around $6 to users via pre-loaded debit cards which can be used in food markets.

However, certain states have said they are cannot cover the money which has been cut by the U.S. treasury.