A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction halting a Trump-era directive that would have forced states to hand over sensitive personal data about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The injunction comes after Washington Attorney General Nick Brown joined a multistate lawsuit in July challenging the USDA’s data demand. The lawsuit argues the request violates multiple federal laws and constitutional protections.
“The last thing people struggling to put food on the table need to worry about is the federal government demanding access to their private information,” Brown said. “I’m grateful that our coalition has secured this court order protecting Washingtonians’ privacy.”
SNAP is a federally funded, state-administered program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to low-income families across the United States. Applicants are required to provide private personal information with the understanding, supported by long-standing legal protections, that it will be used solely to determine eligibility and benefits.
The USDA, under the Trump administration, threatened to withhold critical administrative funding unless states complied with the data-sharing directive. This put states in the position of choosing between safeguarding residents’ privacy and continuing to provide essential nutrition assistance.
Washington state receives approximately $129.5 million annually to administer SNAP. Any disruption in that funding could have severe consequences for the state and the residents who depend on the program for food security.
