DOJ Shakes Up Legal Team On US Census Question

Reuters reports:

A new team of Civil Division lawyers at the Department of Justice will take over handling 2020 census-related cases, a spokeswoman for the agency said on Sunday, a shake-up that came as President Donald Trump pushes to include a contentious citizenship question in the decennial population survey.

Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec did not give a reason for the change, but an official at the DOJ said the new team would be a mix of career and political appointees, including lawyers who work in the consumer protection branch.

The department has been looking at ways to add the question after Trump said he wanted it included, despite the Supreme Court on June 27 blocking his first effort to add the question, faulting the administration’s stated reason.

Last week Trump confessed on camera that he wants the question added so that Republicans will benefit when congressional districts are redrawn.