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# Court Gives Virginia 120 Days for New SNAP Rules
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-virginia-2026-09-24-a/
- Published: 2026-09-25T01:26:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-25T01:26:22.000Z
- Description: A federal judge vacated USDA guidance that could have exposed Virginia to SNAP penalties before complete implementation instructions arrived, preserving a full 120-day adjustment window for state administrators.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: Policy, Virginia

A federal judge has invalidated U.S. Department of Agriculture guidance that could have counted state implementation mistakes against Virginia before the federal government supplied complete instructions for new food-assistance rules.

The Sept. 17 [order](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.190652/gov.uscourts.ord.190652.107.0.pdf?ref=theamericanquorum.com) grants summary judgment to 22 states and the District of Columbia in their challenge to parts of USDA’s implementation of 2025 changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Virginia joined the case after a preliminary injunction was issued.

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled that USDA could not start a 120-day grace period on July 4, 2025—the date Congress enacted the law—when key agency instructions arrived weeks or months later. The court vacated that deadline and ordered USDA to provide states a full 120 days after an implementation memorandum, with adequate notice of when program changes are required.

## Why the timing matters for Virginia

Payment errors can include benefits issued to ineligible households as well as overpayments or underpayments to eligible households. Under the federal law, a state’s error rate can determine how much of its SNAP benefit costs it must begin covering in fiscal 2028\. The court found that USDA’s compressed schedule risked penalizing states for errors made while they were still waiting for federal direction.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones called the ruling a permanent block on the challenged penalties in a Sept. 23 [statement](https://www.oag.state.va.us/media-center/news-releases/3125-attorney-general-jones-permanently-blocks-trump-administrations-snap-penalties?ref=theamericanquorum.com). The decision does not repeal Congress’s broader changes to SNAP, including work requirements, revised noncitizen eligibility rules or the future state cost-sharing formula. Virginia must still administer those provisions and continue trying to reduce its payment error rate.

The scale is substantial. About 740,000 Virginians received SNAP in July, according to the state’s latest [participation report](https://www.dss.virginia.gov/relief/food-assistance/snap/snap-policy--procedures/snap-participation-reports/?ref=theamericanquorum.com). State lawmakers also set aside $135 million in the budget as Virginia prepared for a possible future benefit cost share, according to [reporting](https://virginiamercury.com/2026/09/24/federal-judge-strikes-down-snap-deadline-that-put-virginia-at-risk-of-added-costs/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) published Thursday.

## Eligibility guidance also rejected

The court separately rejected USDA’s interpretation that some lawful permanent residents were ineligible because they had previously entered the country as refugees or received asylum. Kasubhai concluded that prior humanitarian status does not disqualify a lawful permanent resident and that qualifying refugees and asylees remain exempt from the usual five-year waiting period.

USDA had later issued an explanation consistent with the states’ reading, but the judge found the dispute was not moot because the challenged guidance remained formally in place. The ruling therefore provides Virginia agencies a clearer rule for processing those cases while they continue the larger transition.

For the commonwealth, the immediate effect is procedural but financially important: federal officials must give state administrators a complete implementation window before related mistakes can affect future penalties. The longer-term exposure has not disappeared. Virginia’s cost will still depend on how accurately it administers SNAP and on the payment-error figures used under the federal formula.