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America's top court has granted an emergency order that temporarily allows the Trump administration to withhold billions in funding for nutrition assistance used by millions of low-income Americans.

The White House sought relief from the country's highest court after a federal judge ruled that the SNAP program, also known as food stamps, should be distributed completely to beneficiaries by the end of the week.

This assistance has been left in limbo by the continuing budget impasse, with the government arguing it could only pay for part of it.

The court's decision means $4bn can be held back for now until more court proceedings.

SNAP's Reach

The Snap programme is issued by 42 million Americans - around one in eight - and requires almost $9bn a each month.

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

He ordered the government to fund the programme in full.

Court Proceedings

The Thursday ruling came after that required the government to dip into contingency funds to at least partly pay for the programme for November.

This court battle was triggered after the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Snap programme, announced payments 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 multiple rulings and was making efforts to doll out the complete amount.

High Court's Move

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the order on Friday evening, called an temporary halt, pausing the lower court's ruling for 48 hours while federal attorneys seek to overturn it.

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

Wider Effects

Government workers have been unpaid for over 30 days and flight operations has been thrown into chaos as Congress members fail to agree a deal to fund the government.

Several states have used their own budget savings to keep Snap payments going, which are worth around six dollars to recipients via electronic benefit cards which can be used in food markets.

However, certain states have said they are cannot cover the funding which has been lost from the federal government.