SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court decision has cleared the way for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to disclose food stamp revenues for stores participating in the federal program.
The Argus Leader reports a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota, ruled Tuesday that making public the payments wouldn’t cause participating retailers competitive harm.
The ruling caps a seven-year legal struggle by the Argus Leader newspaper of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to get the spending information. The panel upheld a lower court opinion that the sales figures wouldn’t cause stores competitive harm.
A grocery trade group sought to block disclosure, arguing the numbers could be used to determine a store’s total sales. Argus Leader News Director Cory Myers says taxpayers need to know where their money is spent.
