The National Student Legal Defense Network, Protect Democracy, and National Center for Law and Economic Justice filed a complaint in federal court today challenging a demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for states and third-party vendors to turn over the personal data of tens of millions American citizens who receive help buying food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

What’s happening

Following a March 2025 executive order by President Trump titled “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun pressuring state-contracted vendors to hand over sweeping datasets of personally identifiable information about millions of Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), an effort being led by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.

The plaintiffs are accusing the USDA of exceeding its authority and violating several federal statutes, including the Paperwork Reduction Act, the E-Government Act, and the Privacy Act. 

Prior to filing the lawsuit, Protect Democracy, EPIC, and the Center for Democracy and Technology sent a joint letter from EPIC, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Protect Democracy to Conduent, Fidelity, and Solutran, third-party vendors who manage states’ private data.   

As the letter states, “USDA’s requests disregard the basic protections enacted by Congress to protect Americans’ sensitive data, and do not comply with the many legal requirements Congress placed on agencies before they are permitted to collect and store sensitive information about individual Americans.”   

This effort is illegal

USDA’s demand for millions of American citizens’ personal data is illegal and could set a dangerous precedent, allowing the federal government to target private companies and pressure them into breaking the law as an end run around states.

If the federal government is allowed to target private companies and pressure them into breaking the law as an end run around states, it sets a dangerous precedent. This is a template for lawlessness that can be used by other agencies beyond USDA.

nicole schneidman

States are the new battleground for the federal government’s illegal efforts to collect the personal data of millions of Americans across the country — they must hold the line to safeguard privacy and the rule of law.

It could create a new surveillance weapon

As various news outlets have reported, DOGE staffers working with Palantir are building a master database under the auspices of enforcing immigration priorities. Such a database would combine sensitive information from various federal offices — including Social Security, IRS, and HHS — in one place. 

While hunting down fraud and enforcing immigration laws provide the pretext, the reality is that the federal government is making a play for the granular data that state governments maintain about their citizens. States hold student education records, DMV files, voter history, sexual orientation and gender identity information, and abortion and medical history. 

If states surrender this information, the potential for abuse is almost limitless. The federal government could:

• Track people with autism or other disabilities (HHS Secretary Kennedy has already expressed interest in a national autism registry)
• School-based targeting on political grounds, using children’s classroom schedules and disciplinary records
• Track the precise location of individuals using license plate readers
• Create lists of individuals based on gender identity or sexual orientation
• Develop sophisticated voter suppression efforts using state voter data

USDA has proposed a reckless ultimatum: either comply with their illegal demand for data or risk the withholding of SNAP funds. Our goal is simple: We want to keep food on the tables of millions of SNAP recipients, while keeping their personal data out of the hands of DOGE. 

It will make it harder for Americans to put food on their tables

SNAP is a vital lifeline for Americans who are trying to make ends meet. By violating the trust and privacy of SNAP beneficiaries, USDA is destroying the integrity and credibility of a program that has, for decades, helped millions of Americans feed their families.

USDA has proposed a reckless ultimatum: either comply with their illegal demand for data or risk the withholding of SNAP funds. Our goal is simple: We want to keep food on the tables of millions of SNAP recipients, while keeping their personal data out of the hands of DOGE.

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Case Documents