SNAP shoppers in Iowa and West Virginia can still use their cards to buy soda, because a federal court wiped out the approvals behind both states’ bans. Iowa and West Virginia are two of five states where the order applies. USDA’s list shows 23 states with food restriction waivers, so five of them are blocked and 18 are not.
The five blocked states
The court is the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the case is Aragon et al. v. Rollins et al., number 1:26-cv-00861. On June 22, 2026, it “ordered that FNA’s approval of the waiver be vacated and that the waiver’s implementation may not proceed,” according to USDA’s master list of SNAP food-restriction waivers, updated Oct. 2. FNA is the Food and Nutrition Administration, the part of USDA that runs SNAP.
The five states are Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia. FoodNavigator-USA reported the ruling the same week and said it left the restrictions in the other 18 of the 23 states in place. The USDA table puts the court-order wording on Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia in place of a target date. Nebraska’s own USDA page carries the same order, although the summary table still shows a Dec. 1 target for it.
The question for SNAP households is whether their state’s ban is on or off. In Iowa and West Virginia it is off, for now. In the other three blocked states, Colorado, Nebraska and Tennessee, it is off as well. In the 18 other states the answer depends on a start date.
Whether a state’s ban is on or off, SNAP households in all 23 listed states still have their own renewal and reporting dates to keep. The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer includes 51 state packs and a renewal and reporting calendar.
Find the state pack and renewal calendar in The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer →
Iowa and West Virginia
Iowa’s waiver was the broadest of the group. USDA’s table says it restricted “all taxable food items as defined by the Iowa Department of Revenue,” which reached well past soda. West Virginia’s was narrower: its USDA page says the approval would amend the definition of food to exclude soda, effective Jan. 1, 2026, for a two-year term.
Both states’ pages link a retailer notice titled “Stop Waiver Implementation.” For a shopper in either state, the practical result is that the card still pays for what it paid for before the waivers.
Why the judge threw them out
The judge was Amy Berman Jackson. Plaintiffs were SNAP recipients in the five states, according to FoodNavigator-USA. She wrote that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins exceeded her authority,. Newsweek reported that the court found USDA used the wrong legal authority and skipped a required 30-day notice period.
Rollins answered the ruling by saying, “An activist judge just blocked our commonsense restriction on using SNAP benefits for soda and junk.”
What is still in force, and what is next
USDA has appealed. The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service reported on Sept. 8 that the department filed a notice of appeal. The report did not say whether the bans could return during the appeal.
The other 18 states are running on their own schedules. USDA’s list shows Indiana and Utah live since Jan. 1, 2026, Idaho and Oklahoma since Feb. 15, Louisiana since Feb. 18, Texas since April 1, Florida since April 20 and Arkansas since July 1. Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia are set for Nov. 1. Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, Hawaii and Nevada come later, between Feb. 1, 2027 and Feb. 1, 2028.
Checking a state before shopping across a border
A SNAP card follows the rules of the state where it is used. A resident of West Virginia who shops in Ohio, which starts its restriction Nov. 1, is covered by the Ohio rule at that register. The USDA master list is the one place that shows every state’s status side by side, and it carries a date for each update.
Households can also keep the paperwork side in order. Recertification dates, interim reports and change reporting are state-run, and they do not depend on the food-restriction fight. Writing them in one place, alongside the date any local limit begins, saves a scramble if a ruling changes the picture.
Five states blocked, 18 still on a schedule
Households in a blocked state can relax about soda, but a missed recertification still costs benefits, and households in the other 18 states face both a start date and the usual deadlines. The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer has a pack for each of 51 states and a renewal and reporting calendar to keep them straight.
Get your state’s SNAP renewal calendar from the Renewal Organizer →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
