Judge halts Trump administration efforts to impose conditions on SNAP

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday sided with 20 Democratic states and halted an effort by the Trump administration to force states to comply with a range of conditions to get billions of dollars from the federal food aid program.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun granted a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit challenging the conditions for getting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding. Among them are restrictions related to “gender ideology,” immigration,” and “fair athletic opportunities” for women and girls.

In their lawsuit, the states argued the Agriculture Department has “thrown unconstitutional and unlawful roadblocks between the programs created by Congress and the States that rely on them, threatening critical nutrition support, vital agricultural research, and the safety of our national food chain and communities.”

Lawyers for the government opposed the preliminary injunction, arguing in their court filing that “these new requirements would help promote the sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars, strengthen USDA’s control and oversight of obligated funds, and ensure that grant recipients comply with federal laws, regulations, and policies.”

SNAP is a major part of the U.S. social safety net, helping about 39 million Americans, about 1 in 9, buy groceries. Beneficiaries decreased by nearly 4.3 million from January 2025 to January 2026, according to preliminary government data released by the Agriculture Department. Experts say new requirements mandated by a massive tax and spending cut bill Republicans pushed through Congress last summer are the primary reasons.