Attorney General Ellison opposes continued Trump attempt to withhold full SNAP benefits
Joins coalition of 26 states in opposing Trump Administration’s request to stay yesterday’s order that government fully fund SNAP benefits for November
AG Ellison: ‘Donald Trump will go to any lengths to make sure hungry Americans stay hungry and billionaires get richer by the second”
November 7, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined a coalition of 26 states in filing an amicus brief opposing the Trump Administration’s emergency appeal to stay a court order to deliver full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the federal government shutdown to the millions of Americans that relying on them. The federal government’s motion, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, comes after a federal judge in Rhode Island yesterday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to fully fund November benefits by today.
“The government’s emergency appeal of yesterday’s court order shows yet again that Donald Trump will go to any lengths to make sure hungry Americans stay hungry and billionaires get richer by the second,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Donald Trump and the Republican Congress are holding Minnesotans’ food and healthcare both hostage during this shutdown so that billionaires can shamelessly pad their gargantuan bank accounts with more of Minnesotans’ hard-earned money. I will not let up in this fight to unrig this billionaire-run economy and make sure every Minnesotan can feed their families and afford their healthcare, shutdown or not.”
Approximately 440,000 Minnesotans rely on SNAP benefits every month to put food on the table: this includes about 180,000 children, 67,000 seniors, and 52,000 people with disabilities. Each day, a Minnesotan on SNAP receives $5.46.
Attorney Generally Ellison and the coalition filed their brief in Rhode Island State Council of Churches, et al., v. Rollins, et al.,arguing that USDA has the money to fully fund this program and should do so immediately to prevent further harm to states. They argue USDA’s needlessly complicated calculation of reduced benefits has sown chaos in states and if they are forced to carry out this plan, it would create substantial, unlawful delays in getting benefits to recipients. The coalition also explains that the loss of SNAP benefits has a ripple effect on other state services, as increased food insecurity creates a strain on state safety net programs, and healthcare and educational institutions.
The attorneys general argue that due to the federal government’s resistance to meeting their legal obligations to fully fund the SNAP program, American families are struggling to meet their most basic needs. These harms to states will continue unless immediate full payment of SNAP benefits is issued. Attorney General Ellison and the coalition urge the Court to deny the federal government’s motion for a stay.
Today’s amicus brief is Attorney General Ellison’s latest action during the federal government shutdown to protect hungry Minnesotans who rely on SNAP benefits for food. In a separate lawsuit, on October 28 Attorney General Ellison and the same coalition of 26 states sued the Trump Administration in federal court in Massachusetts for illegally suspending SNAP benefits during the shutdown. On October 31, they won a temporary restraining order requiring the government to use a contingency fund to pay for November SNAP benefits, and yesterday, November 6, they filed another motion to require the government to fully fund SNAP during the shutdown.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing today’s amicus brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, and the Governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
