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Supreme Court Finds that Wilbur Ross Lied To Put Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census

Demonstrators marching against adding a question regarding citizenship to the Census
Demonstrators marching against adding a question regarding citizenship to the Census
Davin Rosborough,
Deputy Director,
勛圖眻畦 Voting Rights Project
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June 27, 2019

This morning, the Supreme Court what we and our clients have long known: that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross provided a false reason for his decision to add a citizenship question to the Decennial Census. The court explained that the Trump administrations stated reason for adding a citizenship questionenforcement of the Voting Rights Actwas contrived. The justices could not ignore the disconnect between the decision made and the explanation given. Bottom-line, this decision prevents addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 Census based on the administrations lies.

As we explained in our complaint and as the district courts decision found, Secretary Ross was determined to reinstate a citizenship question from the time he entered office. He adopted the Voting Rights Act as the reason late in the process after already having made up his mind to add a citizenship question for other, unstated reasons. Ultimately, the evidence tells a story that does not match the explanation the Secretary gave for his decision. In other words, the Secretarys decision was a solution in search of a problem.

The implications for this decision are huge for immigrants and people of color across the county whose census participation the administration sought to suppress with this question. The ruling affirms that our clientsthe New York Immigration Coalition, Make the Road New York, CASA, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committeewould be injured by the addition of this question. Striking this question will remove a major barrier to allowing a full count of all people residing in the United States and prevent the use of the census as a political weapon to harm the representation and funding interests of affected communities.

This decision also helps affirm important good-government principles. As the court explained, federal agencies must offer genuine justifications for important decisions, reasons that can be scrutinized by courts and the interested public. While the Supreme Courts decision has its flawssuch as refusing to recognize the terribly flawed process in seeking to add this question and Secretary Rosss ignoring of better alternativesit does recognize that the public deserves something better than the explanation offered for the action taken in this case.

We deserve a 2020 census that seeks to count all of us, rather than using political tools to target communities of color and engage in political manipulation

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