States Unite to Challenge USDA’s SNAP Data Request in Court

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown recently announced that he has joined a coalition of 21 states in filing a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) demand that states turn over personal and sensitive information about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.

Brown said the legal action is intended to protect Washingtonians from what he called an unlawful federal intrusion into the privacy of residents who rely on the program.

“The Trump administration’s illegal and cruel action threatens the privacy and well-being of our communities,” Brown said. “Our office will take action to protect Washingtonians from yet more overreach by the Trump administration.”

This lawsuit is separate from a case Brown filed July 24 in Thurston County Superior Court against Fidelity Information Services, which he accused of breaching its contract to deliver SNAP benefit payments.

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is a federally funded but state-administered program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to low-income families across the United States. In Washington alone, more than 1.2 million residents depend on the program. SNAP applicants are required to submit personal information, including Social Security numbers and home addresses, with the assurance—backed by long-standing privacy laws—that this data will not be used for unrelated purposes.

For decades, state and federal agencies have partnered to maintain strict eligibility and quality control standards for SNAP. USDA itself has called SNAP’s oversight “one of the most rigorous quality control systems in the federal government.” Those systems, however, have never included mass data transfers of the type USDA is now demanding.

In May, USDA directed states to provide five years’ worth of detailed data on all SNAP applicants and recipients, including personal identifying information such as Social Security numbers and residential addresses. Even a single year of such data would encompass sensitive information about tens of millions of individuals nationwide.

USDA officials have suggested that states that fail to comply risk losing administrative funding. Washington state currently receives roughly $129.5 million each year to administer the program, and Brown’s office warned that losing or delaying that funding could have devastating consequences for families who rely on SNAP for food assistance.

The federal government has justified its demands as a means to “prevent fraud and abuse,” but Brown and his counterparts argue that USDA’s own findings contradict that rationale. They contend that the program’s existing safeguards already effectively limit fraud while protecting privacy.

The multistate lawsuit argues that USDA’s demand violates several federal privacy laws, fails to meet required public notice and comment procedures, exceeds the agency’s statutory authority, and infringes upon constitutional protections. The coalition is asking the court to declare USDA’s actions unlawful and to prevent the federal government from conditioning SNAP funding on states’ compliance with its data request.

Joining Brown in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, along with the governor of Kentucky.

“SNAP is a lifeline for millions of Americans,” Brown said. “We cannot allow this administration to jeopardize that lifeline through unlawful demands that put families’ private information at risk.”