Coalition Blasts SNAP Data Demand', Seeks Block of Information Release
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) demand for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicant and recipient data from the states "display[s] the height of contempt" for the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), said a coalition of stakeholders in a court document Friday.
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The group asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to rule in its favor and block the release of the data. The USDA ordered state agency directors to submit SNAP data to it following the “Information Silos” executive order from President Donald Trump in March (see 2505150044).
The coalition opposing the data release includes the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), students from the National Student Legal Defense Network and SNAP recipients.
"USDA complied with the Executive Order without analysis, evidence, or any consideration of the scheme Congress created when it designed SNAP," it said. "And until this lawsuit was filed, USDA gave little regard to the procedures required by the Paperwork Reduction Act or the limitations the Privacy Act places on federal agencies’ use of data; indeed, it continues to violate those requirements."
The Administrative Record in this case "contains no evidence that USDA considered how to apply the government-wide Executive Order to the SNAP program ... no evidence that USDA analyzed why SNAP data should be shared with unrelated federal, state, local, or foreign agencies performing unrelated law enforcement functions," and "no evidence that USDA considered the chilling effect the data collection will have on program participation, thus increasing (not reducing) hunger in the United States," the document added.
These actions show disregard for the APA requirements "that agencies engage in reasoned decisionmaking and follow statutorily mandated procedures," the stakeholders said.
The lawsuit in case 1:25-cv-0165 was filed in May and alleges violation of the 1974 Privacy Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act and other statutes, in addition to the APA (see 2505290019). Though the Trump administration backed off its data demand in June (see 2506030014), it published a System of Records Notice (SORN) June 23 in an attempt to resolve the legal issues and resume the data collection (see 2507180027).
The federal government asked district Judge Jia Cobb to deny a request for a temporary restraining order from EPIC and the others (see 2507220040).
Separately, a group of 20 states and the District of Columbia filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for Northern California over the alleged unlawful collection of SNAP data (see 2507280065). That group also asked the court to block the federal government's demand for SNAP data, in case 3:25-cv-06310 (see 2508190046).