A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot bar the use of food stamps to buy candy and sugary drinks.
Since last year, the Agriculture Department has approved waivers in 23 states that let them bar Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants from using their benefits to buy soda, energy drinks, candy or other prepared desserts — though the restrictions vary by state and not all have taken effect.
Recipients in five red and purple states sued the department over the waivers in March, arguing that some of the restricted drinks are necessary to address Type 1 diabetes, kidney issues and lack of energy.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia determined Monday that the Agriculture Department did not follow its own definition of “food.”
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In her 68-page decision, the Obama appointee said the department “purports to waive not just a mere administrative or technical obstacle, but the very definition of ‘food’ as it was laid down by Congress,” and didn’t have the authority to approve the waivers.
“The federal defendants and the states may have a genuine desire to improve the health of SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store, and they can take lawful steps to meet those goals,” she wrote. “But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way.”
SNAP benefits, the nation’s largest food aid program, can be used for “any food or food product for home consumption except alcoholic beverages, tobacco, hot foods or hot food products ready for immediate consumption,” according to federal law.
She added that her ruling was not a determination of whether the restrictions set a good standard.
Judge Jackson also said the Agriculture Department failed to abide by a notice period.
The Trump administration has not said whether it will appeal the ruling.
Katharine Deabler-Meadows, a senior attorney at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, a nonprofit that brought the case alongside Shinder Cantor Lerner, an antitrust law firm, said in a statement that the decision was “a major step in restoring essential food assistance to the millions of families that rely on SNAP nationwide.”
An Agriculture Department spokesperson told The Associated Press that it “will not be backing down from the fight to Make America Healthy Again.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement has been pushing to reshape federal nutrition programs, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins granted waivers to states aligned with this agenda. The candy and soda SNAP ban was one of MAHA’s most visible policy wins, meaning this ruling is a significant setback for the movement.
