The U.S. Department of Agriculture, under the Trump administration, is requesting states to reverse the distribution of full SNAP food benefits as ordered by judges in the past week, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s stay on those orders. This development is the latest twist in the legal battle surrounding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which serves 42 million Americans.
Over two dozen states have expressed concerns about facing severe operational disruptions if they are not reimbursed for the SNAP benefits they had already authorized prior to the Supreme Court’s intervention. Non-profits and Democratic attorneys general had sued the Trump administration in November to maintain the program, and they recently secured favorable court rulings leading to the swift issuance of benefits in multiple states.
Despite winning the stay from the Supreme Court, the Trump administration had resisted reimbursing states for the initial round of SNAP payments. For instance, Wisconsin had distributed benefits to 700,000 residents but faced frozen reimbursements from the U.S. Treasury, potentially depleting funds by Monday, according to a warning from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration.
The situation could lead to vendors going unpaid and result in escalating legal disputes, with states possibly being asked to return substantial sums of money. The Department of Agriculture notified states that any payments made were deemed “unauthorized” and instructed them to reverse the issuance of full SNAP benefits for November 2025.
In response, Governor Evers rebuffed the administration’s demand, emphasizing that Wisconsin had lawfully provided benefits to hundreds of thousands of residents, including children, based on an active court order. The governor criticized the Trump administration for failing to fulfill its promise of ensuring full SNAP benefits for November as previously indicated.