New York Attorney General Letitia James notched another courtroom win Thursday in the tug-of-war over food stamp records, announcing a fresh order that blocks federal access to SNAP recipients’ private data. Her office says the move shields millions of low-income New Yorkers and immigrant families, and James is pitching it as a simple promise: people should be able to ask for help buying groceries without worrying that the government will use that information to track them.
We won another court order protecting SNAP data for millions of vulnerable people and our immigrant communities.a0
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) Feb 26, 2026
As our lawsuit continues, I'll keep fighting to ensure New York families can get access to the food assistance they need without fearing for their safety. https://x.com/i/status/2027105423203913850
What the order does
According to a press release from the New York Attorney General3s office, a federal court had already issued emergency relief that stops the U.S. Department of Agriculture from forcing states to hand over personally identifying information on SNAP recipients, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers. The Associated Press reported that the judge concluded the SNAP Act generally limits data-sharing to narrow program-administration uses and that the states challenging the policy are likely to succeed on the merits.
Why advocates say it matters
Immigrant-rights and privacy advocates have been warning that the federal data request could be repurposed for enforcement and scare eligible families away from applying for benefits in the first place. CBS New York quoted advocates accusing the administration of trying to 22utiliz[e] every single federal database22 to locate people for enforcement actions.
That kind of pressure lands on a lot of households. Local reporting on SNAP enrollment notes that roughly 1.7 million New York households, or nearly 3 million people, were using SNAP in mid-2025, underscoring how many residents could be caught up in any sweeping federal data grab.
Where the case goes next
The lawsuit brought by New York and a coalition of other states is very much alive, with more filings and likely appeals on the horizon as both sides jockey for longer-term rulings. In her post on X, James framed the February 26 order as another notch in that ongoing legal fight and promised to keep pressing the case.
National legal trackers say this is one of several high-profile court battles over federal data and funding policies now winding through district and appellate courts. For a running log of similar cases, see Just Security.
Legal implications
At the center of the dispute is a narrower but high-stakes question: can the USDA demand nationwide SNAP data and deploy it for purposes beyond running the program itself? The administration has argued that the information is needed to root out fraud, while the state plaintiffs counter that the SNAP Act and privacy laws bar such a broad transfer.
The Associated Press has also noted that the USDA warned states it might withhold administrative funds from jurisdictions that refused to comply, although courts have restrained that threat so far.
For New Yorkers who rely on SNAP, the latest ruling functions as a temporary legal shield that advocates say should reduce the chilling effect on enrollment while the case plays out. James and her coalition are asking the courts to turn the current short-term protections into a more durable ban on the data demand, and both the Attorney General3s office and immigrant-rights groups say they will keep monitoring the docket and updating affected communities as the litigation moves forward.
