US Judge Blocks Trump Administration SNAP Restrictions on Soda, Candy

Source: US News & World Report/Reuters

June 22, 2026, at 7:07 p.m.


WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Washington, ⁠D.C., ⁠on Monday blocked the Trump administration ⁠from preventing food stamp recipients in five states from using their benefits to ​buy sugary foods and drinks.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture lacked the authority under ‌federal law to approve state requests to ‌bar recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, from using benefits to buy sugary foods and ⁠drinks. She sided ⁠with five plaintiffs who argued the restrictions would undermine their access to food.

The ​USDA has approved "food restriction" waivers in 23 states allowing them to restrict SNAP participants from using their benefits to buy products such as soda and candy. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have ​endorsed the waivers as part of the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) movement.

SNAP, commonly known as the food stamp program, provides ⁠monthly benefits ⁠to 42 million low-income Americans, ⁠and is administered ​by the USDA in partnership with state governments. "The federal defendants and the states may have a genuine ​desire to improve the health of ⁠SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store, and they can take lawful steps to meet those goals," Jackson said. "But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way."

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-06-22/us-judge-blocks-trump-administration-snap-restrictions-on-soda-candy