On October 28th, more than two dozen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts suing the Trump administration over the impending loss of SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown.

Approximately 42 million Americans are set to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits when federal funding comes to a halt on Nov. 1. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said it would not use emergency funds to give a lifeline to program funding. The states are seeking to have the court order USDA to use all available funds to keep SNAP benefits funded in November.

"Suspending SNAP benefits in these circumstances is both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act," the lawsuit reads. "USDA's suspension of SNAP benefits is irreparably harming Plaintiff States -- a harm that increases every day SNAP benefits are delayed."

The states suing the administration are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin as well as the District of Columbia.

History of Lawsuits relating to SNAP Benefits

A SNAP recipient brought a lawsuit in 2015 when federal officials indicated that SNAP benefits would be discontinued during the budget impasse at that time. "Congress structured the Food and Nutrition Act to direct benefits to continue even where, as here, the annual appropriations legislation for SNAP is delayed,” the complaint stated. “Specifically, unlike other benefit programs, the Act makes SNAP benefits an ‘entitlement’ that Defendants are directed to continue to issue while awaiting annual appropriations legislation.”

The case was eventually dismissed as moot because a continuing resolution, followed by a full appropriations bill, was passed.