The Office of the New York Attorney General (OAG) said New York Attorney General Letitia James won a court order Monday, Nov. 10, temporarily blocking the Trump administration’s attempts to both claw back Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and punish states that release them.

OAG officials said James and 24 other attorneys general and governors filed an emergency motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on Sunday night, Nov. 9, after the Trump administration sent states an alarming late-night memo directing them to “immediately undo” the release of SNAP benefits.

They said in a late night letter dated Saturday, Nov. 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ignored its own prior guidance and threatened that the release of full November benefits would be considered “unauthorized.” OAG officials said several states, including New York, had already begun issuing these benefits in accordance with USDA’s Friday memo stating that the agency would soon release full funding, as reported.

“The Trump administration has been relentless in its effort to keep food off of Americans’ plates, but once again a court has stepped in to stop them,” said James. “This order ensures that families can keep the food assistance they need and that states won’t be punished for doing their jobs. New Yorkers should not hesitate to use their rightful SNAP benefits as their cards are reloaded. If you have your benefits, use them. My office will deal with the federal government in court.”

OAG officials said the attorney general and the coalition sued the federal government on Oct. 28, as reported, for withholding November SNAP benefits during the shutdown. As reported, on Oct. 31, a federal court ruled in their favor, requiring USDA to use its contingency funds to at least partially fund benefits.

They said, on Thursday, Nov. 6, a second judge ordered USDA to immediately release full benefits, prompting the agency to notify states on Friday, Nov. 7 that full funding would be available imminently. They said based on that memo, New York and other states began issuing full benefits. However, later on the evening of Nov. 7, they said the Trump administration appealed the court rulings, ultimately obtaining a temporary administrative stay from the Supreme Court, after several states had already transmitted their data to their SNAP vendor.

They went on to say that, as reported, on Saturday, Nov. 8, at 10 p.m., USDA issued yet another memo reversing its previous communication and claiming baselessly according to OAG, that any state’s release of full benefits was “unauthorized.” OAG officials said USDA ordered states to “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025” and threatened to hold states financially liable if they failed to claw back benefits, going so far as to warn that it could withhold the basic administrative funding it is legally required to provide.

They said the following night, Sunday, Nov. 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied the administration’s request for a stay pending appeal, leaving in place the lower court’s order requiring USDA to release full SNAP benefits.

As of Monday, they said the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts partially granted the coalition’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order, staying the administration’s Saturday night directive and setting a hearing for later on Monday to discuss the full motion.

OAG officials said as of Nov. 9, New Yorkers had begun to see their November SNAP benefits reflected on their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. They said these benefits can and should be used as normal. James reminded all New York retailers participating in SNAP that they are legally required to accept benefits as long as customers have a sufficient balance.

She said any New Yorker who is wrongfully denied the ability to use their EBT card should remind the retailer of their right to do so and immediately report the incident to OAG.

In the motion filed on Sunday night, they said James and the coalition argued that in issuing four contradictory notices in five days, USDA plunged states into further confusion and jeopardized access to food assistance for millions of families. They said USDA’s conflicting guidance created operational chaos, forcing state agencies to repeatedly reprogram benefit systems, resend issuance files, and respond to widespread confusion among SNAP recipients. They said attorneys general across the country warned that this “whipsaw approach” has strained limited state resources and eroded public trust in the SNAP program.

The coalition argued that USDA’s Saturday night memo is the latest “in a long pattern of arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful conduct”. They said it violated the Administrative Procedure Act by reversing course without explanation, ignoring the states’ needs and legal obligations, and demanding the impossible, ordering states to “undo” benefits already loaded onto families’ EBT cards. The coalition also asserted that USDA lacks any legal authority to compel such clawbacks or to penalize states for following prior court orders and the agency’s own guidance.

Joining the attorney general in filing the latest motion are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.