A federal appeals court cleared the way Thursday for the federal government to release data showing how much retailers participating in the food stamp program have received each year from the government.
The ruling from the panel of three judges on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a victory for the South Dakota-based Argus Leader, which asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than 10 years’ worth of food stamp sales data seven years ago.
“It’s been seven years battling for access to this public information, and we’re pleased [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] sales figures will finally be made available,” said Cory Myers, news director of the Argus Leader. “As I’ve said before, at its heart, this is about fundamental rights. Taxpayers need to know where their money is spent. This information has importance beyond South Dakota as SNAP is one of the nation’s biggest safety net programs.”
The judges from the Saint Louis-based appeals court upheld a district court ruling that rejected the government’s claims that releasing the data would cause competitive harm and that stores with high levels of SNAP transactions would face public stigma.
The Department of Agriculture declined to appeal the ruling from the district court, but Food Marketing Institute, a trade group representing grocery retailers, intervened and appealed to the 8th Circuit.
Food Marketing Institute argued the district court erred when it found releasing the sales figures would have little impact on the grocery industry. The group also said the district court did not give enough weight to claims releasing the information would cause some stores to be stigmatized and stop accepting food stamps.
“But record evidence showed that the contested data—which are nothing more than annual aggregations of SNAP redemptions—lacked the specificity needed to gain material insight into an individual store’s financial health, profit margins, inventory, marketing strategies, sales trends, or market share,” the three-judge panel wrote.
“FMI’s assumption that stores would be stigmatized was speculative and not supported by any other evidence in the record,” the court continued. “There was also no meaningful evidence that retailers would end their SNAP participation if the contested data were released.”
The case stems back to a request the Argus Leader made to the Department of Agriculture for annual SNAP redemption totals for stores that participate in the food stamp program. SNAP redemption totals are records of transactions the USDA receives when a participant in the food stamp program buys food using their SNAP card.
The USDA initially refused to turn over the data, citing exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act.
