A federal court has stopped SNAP food restrictions in four states. On June 22, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered that the Food and Nutrition Administration’s approval of each waiver “be vacated and that the waiver’s implementation may not proceed,” in Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia. USDA’s waiver table, updated Oct. 13, now shows that court language in place of a start date for all four states.
The case is Aragon et al. v. Rollins et al., No. 1:26-cv-00861. The order covers the waivers that let a state bar food stamp benefits from buying soda, energy drinks, candy and similar items, and it leaves SNAP itself untouched.
What the June 22 order did to the four waivers
USDA’s food-restriction waiver table lists 23 states. Four of those rows carry the court’s wording instead of an implementation date, and the other 19 still show a date. The four are inside the 23, not additional to it.
The table was updated on Oct. 13, 2026, more than three months after the order, and the four rows still read as halted rather than pending. USDA shows no replacement start date for any of them, and no date is given for a new approval.
For households in Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia, the practical question is what the checkout will accept. Shoppers there are not subject to the waiver restrictions the states had sought, and anyone elsewhere should look up their own state’s row before assuming a rule applies. Retailers in Iowa and West Virginia were told to change their systems back.
Retirement deadlines, in your inbox: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. Join the Retirement Money Brief and we’ll send you our SNAP Recertification & EBT Checklist as a welcome gift.
Get the Brief + the SNAP checklist →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Soda in West Virginia, nearly everything taxable in Iowa
The four waivers were not the same. According to the USDA table, Colorado’s covered soft drinks and West Virginia’s covered soda. Tennessee’s reached processed foods and beverages such as soda, energy drinks and candy.
Iowa’s was the broadest: all taxable food items under the Iowa Department of Revenue’s definition, excluding food-producing plants and seeds. Under that definition the vacated Iowa ban reached well past drinks, which is why candy and soda were both within it.
West Virginia and Iowa had already switched on the restriction
In at least two of the four states, the restriction had already reached the checkout before the order. USDA’s West Virginia page shows an approval “effective Jan. 1, 2026,” for two years. On July 10, the West Virginia Department of Human Services announced that sweetened, carbonated beverages are eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits again, effective immediately, after USDA directed states to stop implementing the waiver. The department also asked retailers to update their point-of-sale systems as soon as possible, so the register would stop declining the drinks.
Iowa followed the same path. Iowa Health and Human Services told retailers on July 2 that the waiver had been vacated and to revert their systems “in the most expedient manner possible,” The Shelby Report reported. The Iowa restriction had been running for less than six months.
USDA’s table gives no start date for Colorado or Tennessee, only the court-ordered halt. Both rows read the same as the other two: the waiver may not proceed.
Which of the other 19 restrictions are still on the calendar?
Four states are scheduled to begin on Nov. 1, 2026. The table lists Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia on that date, and Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services says its list covers candy, high-sugar beverages, energy drinks and shelf-stable prepared desserts. USDA’s Montana approval page shows the approval running two years from Sept. 30, 2026.
Nebraska’s row shows Dec. 1, 2026 for soda, soft drinks and energy drinks, with candy added March 1, 2027. Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Wyoming have dates from 2027 into 2028, and Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah show dates in 2026 that have already passed. A household’s rule depends entirely on its state’s row and the date in it.
One caution applies to every row: the court vacated the original approvals, so a date on the table is a USDA schedule, not a promise a new challenge cannot disturb.
Will Iowa and West Virginia try again?
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said on July 8 that the state will not appeal but hopes the federal government will, according to The Shelby Report. She had signed “Make America Healthy Again” legislation on May 20 directing Iowa HHS to pursue new healthy-food SNAP waivers, contingent on USDA approval.
Michelle Hurd, president of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association, whose members run more than 1,400 locations, said retailers want stability. “We hope to avoid any more temporary changes, as retailers and participants need certainty and clarity,” she said. West Virginia’s department said it is discontinuing the waiver while the state and USDA evaluate next steps, so neither state has closed the door on a second attempt.
What stays open is whether any of the four states wins a fresh approval, and what a household would then be allowed to buy. For now the vacated rows are the only guide, and the published table is what families can check.
Has your household’s SNAP rule changed again?
A purchase rule that flips on and off is easy to track once the news fades, and a renewal date is not. A household that spends its attention on what the register will accept can still miss the recertification date that decides whether benefits arrive at all.
“The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer” turns that second problem into a calendar: it includes 51 state packs and a renewal and reporting calendar, plus a renewal document checklist. It is a 20-page guide, and its Part 2 walks through SNAP recertification step by step.
Get the state pack and renewal calendar for a SNAP household →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
