Overview
- U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Monday vacated USDA approval letters for pilot waivers in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia that would have barred SNAP benefits from buying sugary drinks and candy.
- Jackson wrote that the USDA exceeded the statutory definition of “food” in the Food and Nutrition Act and violated its own regulation, 7 C.F.R. § 282.1(b), by not giving proper Federal Register notice for the pilot projects.
- The decision directly halts the five state pilots and creates uncertainty for roughly two dozen other states that received or sought similar waivers because many relied on the same legal theory and procedures.
- The lawsuit was brought by five SNAP recipients and argued by the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, which said the state-by-state rules would confuse retailers and harm people who rely on certain products for medical needs such as diabetes.
- The administration has defended the Make America Healthy Again effort but has not immediately filed an appeal, leaving three main paths forward: appeal the ruling, pursue full notice-and-comment rulemaking, or seek changes from Congress.