A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon has permanently blocked the Trump administration from enforcing steep financial penalties against states over their administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP. The sweeping decision provides major legal relief to Maryland and a coalition of state attorneys general who challenged the administration’s aggressive policy shifts.
Announced by Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, the final ruling goes well beyond a preliminary injunction issued by the court in December 2025. According to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, the presiding judge ruled in favor of Maryland and its multistate partners on every single claim brought forward in the litigation.
The legal battle centers on a high-stakes clash over federal food assistance administration. In November 2025, Attorney General Brown joined a coalition of 21 other attorneys general to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The legal action was triggered after federal officials moved to strip SNAP benefits from tens of thousands of lawful permanent residents while simultaneously establishing a retroactive deadline that exposed states to hundreds of millions of dollars in financial penalties.
Challenging Unlawful Deadlines and Eligibility Restrictions
While the administration eventually reversed its stance regarding the eligibility of lawful permanent residents, federal officials continued insisting that states still owed massive fines. The dispute hinged on states allegedly missing a grace period that, in reality, had already expired before the administration finished issuing proper guidance on the changes.
The federal court dismantled the administration’s position entirely. According to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, the court determined that the fine-triggering deadline was both unlawful and arbitrary. Furthermore, the judge found that the administration’s restrictions improperly excluded specific lawful permanent residents—including former refugees and individuals granted asylum—from food assistance they are legally entitled to receive under federal law.
The ruling also addressed broader policy adjustments, concluding that the administration’s timeline violated federal standards regarding alterations to SNAP eligibility calculations introduced under the One Big Bill Act. With the permanent order now in place, the court made two critical clarifications regarding federal food assistance policy:
- States cannot be penalized under the unlawful deadline the administration attempted to impose.
- The standard five-year waiting period for SNAP does not apply to lawful permanent residents who were previously classified as refugees, asylees, or other humanitarian immigrants.
Implications for States and Food Security Programs
The decision shields Maryland and participating states from financial liability that could have reached hundreds of millions of dollars.
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