On December 23, 2025, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) challenging its recent demand that within 30 days, Minnesota interview in person more than 100,000 households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to verify their eligibility for the program. On December 16, 2025, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter to Minnesota officials purporting to require Minnesota to “recertify” the eligibility of more than 100,000 SNAP households in four Minnesota counties — Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, and Wright — within 30 days from the receipt of the letter, or by January 15, 2026. Those four counties contain 45% of all SNAP households in Minnesota. She further demanded that Minnesota conduct in-person interviews with each of those households as part of the recertification process. Secretary Rollins threatened to take severe punitive actions against Minnesota if it failed to comply, including disqualifying Minnesota from SNAP. 

In Minnesota, SNAP households are recertified regularly. Conducting in-person interviews and recertifications of more than 100,000 households within 30 days would be utterly impossible, even if the Trump administration had provided advance notice and even if Minnesota and its county partners redirected all available resources to the effort. This demand from USDA is the latest action by the Trump administration that would harm SNAP recipients. The Trump administration already tried to cut SNAP benefits during the government shutdown, attempted to cut SNAP funding from lawful residents of the United States, and made unlawful demands for SNAP recipients’ sensitive data, all of which have already been challenged by attorneys general in court.

In the new lawsuit, Attorney General Ellison argues that USDA’s demand is in clear violation of several aspects of federal law, including the Food and Nutrition Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

It’s bad enough that the USDA has no lawful authority to impose these impossible demands on Minnesota. But once again, the Trump Administration is threatening to let the needy go hungry. Donald Trump is doing whatever he can to keep vulnerable people hungry and scheming new ways to punish the states that want to keep them fed. Attorney General Keith Ellison