ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge has determined that individual Alaskans can’t sue the state over ongoing delays in processing applications for federal food assistance, in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that curtailed aid recipients’ legal recourse when program rules are violated.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason found in 2024 that the state had been systemically taking longer than prescribed by law to process applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Gleason ordered the state to publish monthly reports detailing its efforts to process applications on time. Those reports, issued regularly through April, showed that the state continued to fail to process SNAP applications on time in the majority of cases.

But at the state’s request, Gleason lifted that order last month, finding that Alaskans no longer have a right to sue over the delays in processing their benefit requests.

Gleason’s latest decision is based in part on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down last year. That decision was made in a case considering the question of whether Medicaid recipients may sue to receive services from a provider of their choosing. In a 6-3 ruling, with dissent from the three liberal justices, the highest court found that Medicaid recipients were not entitled to sue.

Based on that ruling and similar ones like it, people who rely on public assistance are increasingly precluded from turning to the courts to have their rights enforced, said attorney Nick Feronti with the Northern Justice Project. He represented the plaintiffs in the Alaska lawsuit over SNAP delays, which was filed in 2023.

“There’s no dispute that there are very clear federal laws that say, ‘Hey, look, state of Alaska, you must process these applications and give people their benefits in 30 days,’” said Feronti. “And there’s also no dispute that the state has violated that law thousands or tens of thousands of times, and is still doing it.”

“But what’s happened now is Judge Gleason has said, ‘I can no longer enforce this law,’” he added.

The plaintiffs in the case plan to appeal, he said.

“The court has changed the rules about what laws you’re allowed to enforce,” said Feronti. “We went from having this civil rights era where you could enforce lots of laws to now us having to look very hard to find any law you can enforce in federal court.”

In the recent U.S. Supreme Court case, known as Medina vs. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said that enforcing federal statutes should be resolved by “the people’s elected representatives, not unelected judges.”

Just two months after that decision was handed down, the state asked the court to dismiss the claims of Alaskans who had seen their SNAP benefits delayed. Attorneys for the state — led by acting Attorney General Stephen Cox, who has since been rejected by the Legislature — used the recent Supreme Court ruling as the basis for their filing, citing it 62 times.

Gleason’s ruling in the state’s favor is part of a wave of rulings in similar cases, said Feronti, who said federal courts across the country have sometimes come to different conclusions.

For the more than 60,000 SNAP beneficiaries in Alaska, Gleason’s decision is a “travesty,” said Feronti. It means Alaskans who wait months for benefits they should receive in a matter of days will have “more limited resources to vindicate those legal violations.”

In the last monthly filing submitted by the Alaska Department of Health under Gleason’s now-lifted reporting requirement, the state indicated that just 35% of SNAP applications and recertifications were processed on time in the six months between October and March. The average processing time was 47 days. As of April, more than 300 Alaskans had been waiting six months or longer to have their applications processed.

The state Division of Public Assistance has regularly attributed delays to staffing shortages, information technology problems and the need to adapt to changing guidance from federal authorities.

Gleason’s ruling comes as the state is expected to implement new requirements for its food assistance and Medicaid programs, as part of a budget reconciliation bill that passed last summer with support from congressional Republicans — including Alaska’s delegation members. Those changes are expected to add hurdles for Alaskans seeking to maintain their eligibility for the program, while creating more burdensome administrative processes for Alaska’s Division of Public Assistance.

“When states inevitably mess up as they implement these new requirements, will people have any recourse? The answer increasingly seems like, ‘at least not in court,’” said Feronti.

Feronti said civil rights attorneys in Alaska will continue to rely on the “very strong state constitution” to seek legal remedies for Alaskans in need.

Feronti is representing plaintiffs in a separate challenge filed in the state’s Superior Court over delays in processing applications for Alaska’s Adult Public Assistance program. A state judge ruled in 2024 that the state was violating its own laws by failing to process applications within 30 days. That ruling is not impacted by the Supreme Court case, since it relies on protections in Alaska law.

Since that ruling, most Adult Public Assistance applications have been processed on time. As of last month, 193 applications had not been processed within 30 days as required.

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