Tag: Wilbur Ross

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.

How the Supreme Court’s Decision on the Census Could Alter American Politics

HOUSTON — Studded with taquerias and Catholic churches on street after street, the 29th Congressional District of Texas has among the highest proportions of Hispanics in the country.

But the fact that the district — which traces a jagged semicircle around Houston’s east side — is three-quarters Hispanic may not be its most defining statistic. These days, the most important number may be the estimated share of its residents who are not American citizens: one in four.

A battle is brewing over the way the nation tallies its population, especially in immigrant-dense places like Texas’s 29th District, that could permanently alter the American political landscape. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared ready to allow the next census in 2020 to ask respondents if they are American citizens — a question that has never been asked of all the nation’s residents in the census’s

View the complete April 23 article by Michael Wines on The New York Times 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.

Congressman Blasts Commerce Secretary For Deceit In Census Scheme

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

In a powerful moment, Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) slammed Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for “misleading Congress” and trying to steal political power from nonwhite Americans, and called on Ross to resign.

Ross testified Thursday before the House Oversight Committee about his role in adding a question about citizenship to the upcoming 2020 Census — a racist ploy by Republicans that would intimidate many undocumented immigrants out of participating in the survey. This would lead areas with larger minority populations to be undercounted in the census, which would deny those communities equal representation in Congress and equal access to federal funding.

Clay asked Ross if he would “take responsibility today for misleading Congress” when he testified under oath that the citizenship question was added “solely” based on a request from the Department of Justice in December 2017. But new documents and memos have surfaced showing that Ross was part of an administration discussion on the new question in April 2017.

View the complete March 14 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.

Wilbur Ross broke law, violated Constitution in census decision, judge rules

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted in “bad faith,” broke several laws and violated the constitutional underpinning of representative democracy when he added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

In finding a breach of the Constitution’s enumeration clause, which requires a census every 10 years to determine each state’s representation in Congress, the 126-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco went further than a similar decision on Jan. 15 by Judge Jesse Furman in New York.

The Supreme Court has already agreed to review Furman’s narrower decision, with arguments set for April 23, but may now need to expand its inquiry to constitutional dimensions.

View the complete March 6 article by Fred Barbash on The Washington Post website here.

Ethics Office Rebukes Commerce Secretary For Concealing Bank Stock

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) refused to certify Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ financial disclosure form — because Ross lied about owning certain stocks.

The move comes after the OGE warned Ross in the summer of 2018 about the consequences of his repeated problems with inaccurate disclosures.

In a letter dated Feb. 15, 2019, OGE Director Emory A. Rounds declared that the office would not certify Ross’ disclosure because the “report was not accurate and he was not in compliance with his ethics agreement at the time of the report.”

View the complete February 19 article by Dan Desai Martin of the American Independent on the National Memo website 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.

Why Wilbur Ross’ Census Lies Matter: Commerce Secretary’s Phony Rationale for Adding a Citizenship Question Is Inconsistent With Rule of Law

Credit: Getty Images

In an age when the president prevaricates promiscuously or his opponents will say almost anything to make him look bad (take your pick), it is tempting to conclude that public officials can lie with impunity. But that is not always the case, as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discovered when he tried to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 U.S. Census.

Last week, a federal judge in New York ruled that Ross, whose department includes the U.S. Census Bureau, “violated the law” and “violated the public trust” in “multiple independent ways” when he decided to change the census form — most egregiously, by offering a phony rationale he invented after he had made the decision. As U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman’s 277-page decision shows in head-shaking detail, that kind of dishonesty poses a clear threat to the rule of law.

The Constitution requires an “actual enumeration” of each state’s population, without regard to citizenship or immigration status, every 10 years so that representatives can be apportioned correctly. Asking about citizenship, which the main census form has not done since 1950, undermines that goal, as people may worry that the information they provide will be used against them or their relatives — a fear for which there is historical precedent, notwithstanding the government’s promise of confidentiality.

View the complete January 23 article by Jacob Sullum on the Creators website here.

Wilbur Ross doesn’t understand why furloughed federal workers need food banks

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

Commerce secretary suggests they should be able to take out bridge loans

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says he does not understand why federal employees who are furloughed or have been working without pay during the partial government shutdown would need assistance from food banks.

Several credit unions serving workers at federal departments and agencies have been offering stopgap loans, as they have during previous shutdowns. But it’s not clear how even those loans would be sufficient as the shutdown enters its second month.

“I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,” Ross said Thursday when asked on CNBC about workers getting food from places like shelters. “Because, as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union, are in effect federally guaranteed.”

View the complete January 24 article by Niels Lesniewski on The Roll Call website here.

OUT OF TOUCH: Trump Admin Doesn’t Understand Why Furloughed Workers Can’t Afford To Eat

Trump and his White House are extremely out of touch with the workers whose paychecks they are holding hostage.

Wilbur Ross said he doesn’t “really quite understand” why workers are needing to go to food banks during the Trump Shutdown.

Wilbur Ross: “I know there are and I don’t really quite understand why. Because as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union, are in effect federally guaranteed.”

Wilbur Ross suggested it wouldn’t be a big deal if 800,000 workers never got their paychecks because the GDP impact was not a “gigantic number overall.”

Wilbur Ross: “You’re talking about 800,000 workers. And while I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers, if they never got their pay – which is not the case, they will eventually get it – but if they never got it, you’re talking about a third of a percent on our GDP. So it’s not like it’s a gigantic number overall.” Continue reading “OUT OF TOUCH: Trump Admin Doesn’t Understand Why Furloughed Workers Can’t Afford To Eat”