Court Blocks Release Of US Census “Citizenship” Doc

Law & Crime reports:

A federal court on Tuesday ruled that drafts of a letter that was ultimately sent by the U.S. Department of Justice in order to request a citizenship question on the 2020 Census are not public records that can be accessed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The original letter, sent by DOJ General Counsel of the Justice Management Division Arthur Gary, was used by then-commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to advocate for the inclusion of the controversial question.

Numerous exemptions to FOIA are contained within the underlying statute. Relevant to Campaign Legal Center’s request were documents excluded under Exemption 5, which generally protects document that are “predecisional” and “deliberative.”

Read the full article.

D.C. Circuit Judges Decide Trump-era DOJ’s Draft Letter on Census Citizenship Question Is Not Public Record Under FOIAhttps://t.co/IFNFZUGnKb

— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) May 18, 2022