Federal Court Blocks USDA Demand That Threatened SNAP Benefits for 440,000 Minnesotans

(KNSI) — A federal judge granted Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s request for a preliminary injunction Wednesday, protecting food assistance benefits for nearly half a million state residents.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota blocked a December 16th demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture requiring the state to conduct in-person interviews with roughly 100,000 households that use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits, within 30 days to verify their eligibility.

Ellison filed a lawsuit on December 23rd challenging the requirement, which he says federal law prohibits the USDA from making. The Trump administration had threatened to cut Minnesota’s SNAP administrative funding and disqualify the state from the program entirely if it didn’t comply.

During Wednesday’s hearing, USDA officials gave an attorney from the Attorney General’s Office a letter stating they had already cut off administrative funds. The court’s preliminary injunction also blocked that action.

“We have won yet another battle in the Trump administration’s war on Minnesota,” Ellison said. “Before any of us in the state are Republicans or Democrats, we are Minnesotans, and it should shock and disgust us that this president is trying to take food off the table of half a million of our neighbors.”

About 440,000 Minnesotans receive SNAP benefits monthly, including approximately 180,000 children, 70,000 seniors and 50,000 adults with disabilities.

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