A federal judge Wednesday temporarily blocked a Trump administration order issued last month that would have forced Colorado to recertify families with low incomes on food stamps or risk losing food assistance benefits.
As part of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture called a pilot project, the administration Dec. 18 ordered Colorado to conduct in-person interviews for 100,000 households receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or food stamps, in five counties within 30 days, a task attorneys for Colorado described as impossible.
U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson, who sits on the federal bench in Denver and was appointed by President Barack Obama, issued the preliminary injunction against the Trump administration after a hearing Wednesday.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who brought the case, said Trump’s USDA issued the order to Colorado as a way to punish the state.
“The administration cannot punish Colorado into submission, and I’ll continue to fight back when the federal government harms Colorado and acts like it’s above the law,” Weiser said in a statement.
Jackson said a written order would follow.
If Colorado failed to complete the recertification of SNAP beneficiaries, USDA threatened sanctions, including potentially removing Colorado from the SNAP program. That could impact 600,000 Coloradans, Weiser said.
Weiser asked a judge to intervene earlier this month on the SNAP issue as an amendment to the case he brought against the Trump administration in October seeking to block the relocation of Space Command from Colorado Springs to Alabama. As part of that lawsuit, Weiser is also seeking relief from the Trump administration’s moves to:
- Terminate $109 million in transportation funding and plans to end an additional $615 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, announced Dec. 16.
- Dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, also announced Dec. 16.
- Deny on Dec. 20 of two disaster relief assistance requests from the Federal Emergency Management Agency related to devastating wildfires and flooding.
The Space Command question and the other funding issues are still pending with the court.