Judge Temporarily Blocks USDA's Demands for State SNAP Data
A federal district court in California granted states a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop it from demanding that they part with the sensitive, personally identifiable information (PII) of millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients (see 2508190046).
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The U.S. District Court for Northern California “finds Plaintiff States are likely to show the SNAP Act prohibits them from disclosing to USDA the information demanded in the formal warnings and, consequently, that they have shown a likelihood of success on their claim that USDA, in making such demand, acted in a manner contrary to law,” wrote Judge Maxine Chesney on Friday in case 3:25-cv-06310.
Also, the judge said that the states “have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that USDA's demand and threatened disallowance of funding are contrary to the SNAP Act.”
The TRO doesn’t cover Nevada, which, despite being part of the lawsuit, already shared state-held SNAP data with USDA (see 2509160051). But for the other 20 plaintiff states and the District of Columbia, “the USDA is hereby TEMPORARILY ENJOINED from acting on” formal warning letters it sent to the states, “including by disallowing SNAP funding,” said Chesney.
The judge asked for more briefing on the states’ request for a preliminary injunction, setting a hearing for Oct. 9.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) cheered the ruling. "Millions of Americans, and more than half a million Kentuckians, receive SNAP benefits, and their privacy rights are just as important as everyone else’s."
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said that the ruling "is a critical victory in our efforts to protect the privacy of millions of vulnerable people."