Tag: census citizenship question

Justice says it is reviewing ‘all available options’ on census

The Hill logoJustice Department lawyers told a federal judge Friday that the Trump administration is reviewing “all available options” for adding a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 census after the Supreme Court blocked the query’s inclusion last week.

“The Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Commerce have been asked to reevaluate all available options following the Supreme Court’s decision and whether the Supreme Court’s decision would allow for a new decision to include the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a filing Friday.

“In the event the Commerce Department adopts a new rationale for including the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court, the Government will immediately notify this Court so that it can determine whether there is any need for further proceedings or relief,” they wrote.

View the complete July 5 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

A dead man just revealed the Trump administration’s plans to rig elections for white Republicans

They don’t believe in democracy.

A longtime Republican operative urged Trump administration officials to add a question to the 2020 census form that hasn’t been asked since the Jim Crow era, knowing full well that including this question “would clearly be a disadvantage to the Democrats” and “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites,” according to a document filed in federal court on Thursday.

The Trump administration did add the question, which asks whether census respondents are U.S. citizens, at the urging of Dr. Thomas Hofeller, a Republican master in the dark arts of political mapmaking who passed away last summer. It also produced documents which falsely claimed that the question would “ensure that the Latino community achieves full representation in redistricting.”

Last January, a federal court ordered the citizenship question removed from the census form, citing numerous violations of laws laying out the process the government must use if it wishes to change that form. Notably, Judge Jesse Furman wrote in his opinion striking down the citizenship question, the administration’s stated reason for adding the question “was pretextual” — that is, the administration said that it added the question to help protect voting rights, when it was really up to something else altogether.

View the complete May 30 article by Ian Millhiser on the ThinkProgress website here.

The Four Pinocchio claim at the center of the census citizenship question

The Trump administration’s move to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census is coming up for oral argument at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. That means the justices could be weighing a Four-Pinocchio claim by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau and approved the question last year, claimed in congressional testimony that the Justice Department “initiated the request for inclusion of the citizenship question.”

But, as part of this court case, emails were released showing that Ross was talking to top advisers to President Trump and maneuvering to add the citizenship question months before the Justice Department sent a letter in December 2017 with a formal request.

View the complete April 22 article by Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post logo here.

Supreme Court to hear census citizenship case this term

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a case about the Trump administration’s plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The justices decided to skip over a regional appeals court and review a district court ruling that bars the Trump administration from adding the controversial question to the decennial population count.

They granted the government’s request to hear arguments this term ahead of a ruling from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Arguments will be heard in the second week in April.

View the complete February 15 article by Lydia Wheeler on The Hill website here.

Wilbur Ross’s false claim to Congress that the census citizenship question was DOJ’s idea

The following article by Salvador Rizzo was posted on the Washington Post website July 30, 2018:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Congress a question on immigration status was added to the 2020 census at the request of the Department of Justice. (U.S. House Ways and Means Committee)

“I am mystified why nothing have [sic] been done in response to my months old request that we include the citizenship question. Why not?”
— Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in an email about adding a citizenship question to the census, May 2, 2017

“Department of Justice, as you know, initiated the request for inclusion of the citizenship question. … Because it is from the Department of Justice, we are taking it very seriously, and we will issue a fulsome documentation of whatever conclusion we finally come to.”
— Ross, testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, March 22, 2018

Who came up with adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census?

View the complete article here.

At Least Twelve States to Sue Trump Administration Over Census Citizenship Question

The following article by Michael Wines and Emily Baumgaertner was posted on the New York Times website March 27, 2018:

New citizens watched a video of President Trump during a citizenship ceremony in New York in 2017. The Trump administration will add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. Credit: Devin Yalkin for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — At least 12 states signaled Tuesday that they would sue to block the Trump administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census, arguing that the change would cause fewer Americans to be counted and violate the Constitution.

The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said he was leading a multistate lawsuit to stop the move, and officials in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington said they would join the effort. The State of California filed a separate lawsuit late Monday night.

“The census is supposed to count everyone,” said Attorney General Maura Healey of Massachusetts. “This is a blatant and illegal attempt by the Trump administration to undermine that goal, which will result in an undercount of the population and threaten federal funding for our state and cities.” Continue reading “At Least Twelve States to Sue Trump Administration Over Census Citizenship Question”

Ross: 2020 Census Will Ask About Citizenship Status

The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website March 26, 2018:

Commerce Department made announcement late Monday, despite outcry from Democrats

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has determined the 2020 Census should include a citizenship question. Credit: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo

The Commerce Department has agreed to a request from the Justice Department to include a citizenship status question on the 2020 Census.

Commerce made the announcement late Monday, saying that the question would line up with the language used the American Community Survey.

“Citizenship questions have also been included on prior decennial censuses. Between 1820 and 1950, almost every decennial census asked a question on citizenship in some form,” the Commerce Department said in its announcement. Continue reading “Ross: 2020 Census Will Ask About Citizenship Status”