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”