PediatricDigest: Latest from Food Politics: Lawsuit #2: SNAP restrictions

By Marion Nestle

March 18 2026

Lawsuit #2: SNAP restrictions

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement now counts 22 states as having passed laws eliminating sodas and sometimes other sweet foods from what SNAP recipients are allowed to buy with their electronic benefit cards.

I am often asked what I think about these laws. I can argue them either way.

Pro: Even with these restrictions, SNAP recipients can continue to buy sugar-sweetened beverages with their own money; the government should not support purchases of demonstrably unhealthy drinks.

Con: These laws are not about improving the health of SNAP recipients; they are about punishing the poor for being poor, further stigmatizing them, and encouraging them to withdraw from benefits to which they are entitled.

I have long been a supporter of pilot research projects (USDA “waivers”) to see whether restrictions like these help SNAP recipients eat more healthfully. But these laws are not designed that way. I just hope their effects are being researched adequately.

Now, the laws are being challenged in court. The lawsuit calls for a halt to waivers in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia – five of the 22 states to which USDA has granted them.

The suit comes from the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, an advocacy group focused on equity, and Shinder Cantor Lerner, an anti-trust law firm.

The suit alleges that USDA is:

Trying to shrink SNAP by authorizing a patchwork of state laws.
Changing the statutory definition of food without authority or notice.
Preventing recipients from buying foods they need to maintain health.
Confusing SNAP recipients about what they can buy.
Increasing burdens on retailers, thereby adversely affecting SNAP recipients.

I can’t help wonder whether the food industry is behind all this.

Calley Means, who advises Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, says no. He blames the Democrats.

What are we to make of all this?

I guess we wait to see what emerges during the discovery process and what the courts decide.

What a strange and complicated time this is.

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