Blue states win temporary ruling against Trump SNAP rule

U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun on Friday temporarily barred the federal government from enforcing new regulations on its food stamp program. The preliminary injunction stops the federal government from requiring states’ approval of federal antidiscrimination policies to receive money for the nutrition program. Those policies include one of President Trump’s first executive orders against transgender ideology. Friday’s temporary ruling applies while the case plays out in court.

Earlier this year, 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging that the agency was imposing unfair and illegitimate conditions that states had to meet before they could receive funding from the government for their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, also known as SNAP or food stamps.

What sort of conditions did the states have to meet to get the funding? USDA was requiring states to agree to federal antidiscrimination policies that were unclear and possibly subject to later revision, the states claimed in their initial lawsuit. The provisions in question required the states to agree to keep men out of women’s sports and cancel state funding for programs that promoted transgender ideology. The states also had to quit funding programs that helped illegal immigrants obtain taxpayer-funded benefits. Judge Joun on Friday ruled that the federal government couldn’t require states to meet those conditions before it gave them access to SNAP funds. A full memorandum outlining his decision was slated to come at a later date, Joun said.

What have the parties had to say about this development? The California attorney general, one of the parties to the suit, praised the decision for pausing what he called a hateful and discriminatory agenda that the Trump administration was imposing on the states.

The USDA told WORLD it wouldn’t comment on any ongoing litigation and referred further questions to the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WORLD about the case.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah Bernhardt’s report on how some cities—in both blue and red states—are trying to address the problem of food deserts with government-run grocery stores.