The court found that states cannot be penalized under the unlawful deadline the administration tried to impose.
A federal judge has permanently blocked the Trump administration from imposing steep fines on Washington and other states tied to their administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to a ruling issued Monday.
The decision makes permanent a preliminary injunction the court issued in December 2025 and goes further, striking down both the administration’s attempt to levy the fines and its guidance restricting food assistance for lawful permanent residents. The judge sided with Washington and a coalition of attorneys general on every claim.
“This case protects critical food benefits for people who are lawfully in this country and stops the government’s illegal attempts to penalize states that support them,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said. “The rule of law has once again held the administration’s overreach in check.”
In November 2025, Brown and the coalition sued the Trump administration after it moved to cut off SNAP benefits for tens of thousands of lawful permanent residents and set a retroactive deadline that put states at risk of paying hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties, according to the lawsuit.
The administration later reversed its position on eligibility for lawful permanent residents, but continued to argue that states owed fines for missing a “grace period” that, in practice, had already expired before the administration finished issuing guidance on the changes.
The court found that states cannot be penalized under the unlawful deadline the administration tried to impose.
The ruling also clarifies that the standard five-year waiting period for SNAP does not apply to lawful permanent residents who were previously refugees, asylees or other humanitarian immigrants.
