Court blocks USDA from cutting SNAP funding for 450k Minnesotans

AG Ellison wins preliminary injunction in December 23 lawsuit challenging impossible USDA demand that Minnesota verify SNAP eligibility of nearly 100,000 households via in-person interviews within 30 days or lose all SNAP funding

January 15, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota granted Attorney General Keith Ellison’s request for a preliminary injunction from the bench, protecting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the almost half a million Minnesotans who rely on the program to put food on the table. 

The preliminary injunction blocks the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) December 16 demand that, within 30 days, Minnesota interview in person roughly 100,000 households that receive SNAP benefits to verify their eligibility for the program. On December 23, Attorney General Ellison filed a lawsuit against USDA challenging this impossible demand. The Trump administration had threatened to cut off Minnesota’s SNAP administrative funding and disqualify it from SNAP altogether unless Minnesota complied with USDA's demands, which under federal law it is prohibited from making.

At yesterday’s hearing to determine whether USDA could cut off Minnesota from SNAP and cut our state’s SNAP administrative funds, USDA officials handed an attorney from the Attorney General’s Office a letter stating they had already cut off administrative funds. The preliminary injunction issued by the court blocked that action too. 

“We have won yet another battle in the Trump administration’s war on Minnesota,” said Attorney General Ellison. “Before any of us in the state are Republicans or Democrats, we are Minnesotans, and it should shock and disgust us that this president is trying to take food off the table of half a million of our neighbors. I’m pleased to have stopped this from happening, and I will continue to do everything in my power to stand up to the Trump administration when they try to harm the people of Minnesota.”

In Minnesota, roughly 440,000 people receive SNAP benefits each month, including approximately 180,000 children, 70,000 seniors, and 50,000 adults with disabilities.