Second Judge Blocks Citizenship Question from 2020 Census



There is controversy over a question that may or may not be permitted to appear on the 2020 Census. “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” Two judges have now ruled to have that question removed from the 2020 Census.

The state of California brought a case about the citizenship question to court. California argued that Commerce Department Secretary Wilber Ross’ plan to add the question to the 2020 Census would discourage immigrants and Latinos from participating in the census. They also contended it would cause an undercount and jeopardize congressional seats and billions of dollars in federal funding.

On March 6, 2019, U.S. District Judge for the Court of Northern California, Richard Seeborg, found that the citizenship question violates the Constitution’s Enumeration Clause, which requires “actual enumeration” of all people in each state every ten years.

Judge Seeborg also found the citizenship question to be in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act’s prohibition against agency action that is “arbitrary and capricious”. Judge Seeborg blocked the Trump administration from adding the citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

Judge Seeborg wrote: “The record in this case has clearly established that including the citizenship question on the 2020 Census is fundamentally counterproductive to the goal of obtaining accurate citizenship data about the public.”

In January of 2019, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, Jesse Furman, ruled against the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Judge Furman said the question was “unlawful” because of “a veritable smorgasbord of classic, clear-cut” violations of the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Supreme Court of the United States is scheduled to hold a hearing about the ruling made by District Court for the Southern District of New York, Jesse Furman. That case will be heard on April 23, 2019. It is expected that both rulings will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Related Article at FamilyTree.com:

* The 2020 Census has Funding Problems

* Citizenship Question on 2020 Census Blocked by Judge

* The Controversial Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census

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