RALEIGH – A federal judge has set aside part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidance for implementing recent changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, ruling that the agency did not give states a lawful or workable timeline.
U.S. District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai granted summary judgment Sept. 17 to 22 states and the District of Columbia, including North Carolina. The case challenged USDA memoranda implementing SNAP changes in H.R. 1, the federal law enacted July 4, 2025.
USDA treated the law’s enactment date as the start of a 120-day period during which errors tied to the new rules would be excluded from state payment-error calculations. The court found that approach problematic because USDA issued key instructions weeks or months later. One memorandum concerning noncitizen eligibility arrived Oct. 31, 2025, leaving states one day under the agency’s timeline.
The order found the exclusionary period contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious. It vacated that portion of the guidance, while leaving the rest of the guidance documents in place. The judgment requires USDA to give states a full 120 days after issuing an implementing memorandum and to provide adequate notice of the required implementation date.
The court also ruled that lawful permanent residents remain eligible for SNAP regardless of their prior immigration status and that the five-year waiting period does not apply to permanent residents who are or were members of specified humanitarian immigrant groups.
For North Carolina, the ruling has both administrative and budget implications. More than 1.4 million state residents receive SNAP benefits. The court record says that if North Carolina’s payment-error rate exceeded 10 percent in fiscal year 2026, the state’s share of benefit costs in fiscal year 2028 could reach about $420 million.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office announced the decision Tuesday. WITN also reported the ruling and its potential effect on North Carolina. The decision follows a preliminary injunction issued in December 2025 while the case proceeded.
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Photo: Michael Kranewitter via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped and resized.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.