DOJ Tells Federal Court It Still Wants Census Question

July 5, 2019 Immigration, Trump Administration

The Justice Department signaled to a federal judge in Maryland Friday they’re still fighting to place the citizenship question on the census, something Mr. Trump has insisted he wants. The Justice Department, unsurprisingly, was unable to provide a different rationale for adding the question, as the Supreme Court has insisted is necessary to proceed.

U.S. District Judge George Hazel had given the Justice Department until 2 p.m. to explain what the administration intends to do, after Mr. Trump baffled even his own Justice Department lawyers when he tweeted his administration is still fighting to keep the question.

The Supreme Court ruled last week the question couldn’t move forward as-is, because the administration’s reason for adding the question was insufficient. The president told reporters Friday he’s “thinking about” issuing an executive order to ensure the question gets on the census, along with several other options.

#ELB: Breaking: DOJ Tells Federal Court It May Have New Rationale Later for Including the Census Question, Wants to Stop Discovery Now Because a New Decision Would Be Cleaned of Animus (Citing Travel Ban Case) https://t.co/puIzJISnzR (post in progress)

— Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) July 5, 2019

New: Trump DOJ tells federal court they are looking for "new rationale" to reinstate citizenship question on 2020 census, days after they said census forms would be printed without the question, but they do not say what that new rationale is https://t.co/uw0VngUQWq pic.twitter.com/sEFQ39zo3Q

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) July 5, 2019

DOJ again tells judge: "The Departments of Commerce and Justice have been instructed to examine whether there is a path forward, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision, that would allow for the inclusion of the citizenship question on the census." https://t.co/hgcJFl0kj9 pic.twitter.com/R3S0YmKdMt

— Mike Scarcella (@MikeScarcella) July 5, 2019