The court's action allows the administration for now to continue withholding about $US4 billion ($A6.1 billion) from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps.
Lawyers for the administration told the justices that an end to the government shutdown would eliminate its need to halt the judge's order, so the court's extension of a pause issued last Friday by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson may prove short-lived.
Jackson, on Tuesday, wrote that she would have denied the administration's request to further halt the judge's order.
The extended pause is set to expire on Thursday.
The US Senate on Monday approved compromise legislation that would end the longest government shutdown in US history, breaking a weeks-long stalemate that has disrupted food benefits for millions, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers unpaid and snarled air traffic.
SNAP benefits lapsed at the start of the month for the first time in the program's 60-year history. Recipients have turned to already strained food pantries and made sacrifices like forgoing medications to stretch tight budgets.
Stacy Smith, an eligibility technician with the Rhode Island Department of Human Services and president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2882, said her office has had lines around the block as SNAP recipients seek information about benefits.
"It's been very stressful and disheartening and scary for families," Smith said.
The US Department of Agriculture did not respond to a request for comment.
The agency has repeatedly blamed Democrats for the shutdown and resulting disruptions to SNAP. Democratic-led states have fought the administration in court to try to get it to issue full benefits.
Many food banks have seen an uptick in donations as communities rally to support pantries already strained by a multi-year rise in hunger rates and food price inflation.
