Attorney General Kathy Jennings today celebrated a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California once again blocking the Trump Administration’s demand that states turn over personal and sensitive information about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants and recipients. Earlier this year, AG Jennings joined a coalition in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration alleging that this demand violates federal law. The District Court agreed that the demand was likely unlawful, because the Administration had stated its intent to disclose and use the demanded data for purposes unrelated to the administration of federal benefits programs, and granted a preliminary injunction.
The coalition then went back to court when the Trump Administration again threatened to cut off administrative funding to states that do not turn over this data pursuant to a new data and security protocol that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had proposed. Today, the District Court held that USDA cannot collect states’ records without an agreed-upon protocol, and that the states appropriately rejected USDA’s proposed protocol because it would have allowed USDA to share the states’ data with entities unrelated to the administration of federal benefits programs, contrary to federal law.
“Yet again, a court has affirmed that the Trump Administration’s attempts to take something that doesn’t belong to them are illegal,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “As long as they keep trying, I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure that this lawless Administration doesn’t get its hands on your personal data.”
An average of 119,000 people receive SNAP benefits in Delaware each month, including approximately 60,000 families and 45,000 children; this represents roughly 11 % of Delawareans or 1 out of 9 of our community members. This Preliminary Injunction prevents the government from withholding these benefits.
SNAP is a federally funded, state-administered program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families across the country. SNAP applicants provide their private information on the understanding, backed by federal law, that their information will not be used for unrelated purposes. In an attempt to bully states into compliance, the Trump Administration has repeatedly threatened to withhold administrative funding for the program if states fail to comply with its unprecedented demand for data — effectively forcing states to choose between protecting their residents’ privacy and providing critical nutrition assistance to those in need.