Attorney General Bonta Seeks Court Order Blocking Trump Administration’s Attempt to Bully States into Sharing the Private Data of SNAP Participants

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta yesterday asked a court to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from attempting to force states to turn over the personal and sensitive information about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients while litigation over the legality of the demand continues. SNAP is a federally funded, state-administered program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families across the country. SNAP applicants provide their private information on the understanding, backed by long-standing state and federal laws, that their information will not be used for unrelated purposes. Last month, Attorney General Bonta led a multistate coalition in suing USDA, arguing that its demand that states turn over SNAP data violates multiple federal privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution. Then, last week, Trump’s USDA threatened to cut off crucial administrative funding that states depend on to run the SNAP program if the states do not turn over the demanded data.

“We’re filing a motion to block the Trump Administration’s illegal attempt to bully states into providing private SNAP participants’ data,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Fear should not be a factor when signing up for SNAP benefits to feed your family. The Trump Administration’s own statements contradict its claims that this data is necessary to combat ‘waste, fraud, and abuse.’ We’re asking the court to prevent USDA from withholding vital funding in retaliation for states refusing to meet its unlawful demands." 

For 60 years, California and other states have administered SNAP, which serves as an essential safety net for millions of low-income Americans by providing credits that can be used to purchase groceries for themselves and their family members. In those 60 years, the federal government and state agencies have worked together to build a robust process for ensuring that only eligible individuals receive benefits. Those systems do not, and have never, required that states turn over sensitive, personally identifying information about millions of Americans without any meaningful restrictions on how that information is used or shared with other agencies. 

Yet in July 2025, USDA made an unprecedented demand that states turn over massive amounts of personal information on all SNAP applicants and recipients, including their social security numbers, home addresses, and even their shopping history dating back five years. Even a year’s worth of SNAP recipient data contains sensitive, personal identifying information on tens of millions of individuals — including more than five million in California alone. The federal government’s stated justifications for its unprecedented data demands, to “prevent fraud and abuse,” are directly contradicted by their own statements describing SNAP as having “one of the most rigorous quality control systems in the federal government.”

After Attorney General Bonta and a multistate coalition filed a lawsuit challenging USDA’s demand, USDA threatened to withhold federal administrative SNAP funding to the states — which total $1.4 billion for California alone. In yesterday's motion for a preliminary injunction, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition urge the court to intervene to prevent USDA from pressing its unlawful demand for data — and using critical administrative funding as leverage — before the court has a chance to address the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims.  

Attorneys General Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James lead the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the state of Kentucky, in filing the motion.

A copy of the motion can be found here.