Immigrant rights groups challenging the Commerce Department’s decision to add a citizenship question to the census asked the Supreme Court to consider postponing a ruling on whether the Trump administration can do so.
In a filing with the high court Wednesday, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the organizations, said that if the justices do not intend to uphold lower court rulings against the Trump administration, they should send the case back to the federal district court in light of newly uncovered evidence that cast doubt on the Commerce Department’s motivation for including the citizenship question on the 2020 census.
“If ever there were a case that should be decided on the basis of a true and complete record, it is this one. The Decennial Census is one of the United States government’s most important constitutional responsibilities, and even an appearance that the government has manipulated the census for partisan and racially discriminatory purposes should undermine public confidence,” the challengers told the Supreme Court. “This court should not bless the secretary’s decision on this tainted record, under a shadow that the truth will later come to light.”
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the challenge to the addition of the citizenship question in April, and a ruling from the justices is expected by the end of the month. During oral arguments, the conservative justices seemed poised to let the Trump administration move forward with its plan to ask about citizenship on the census.
But the evidence found on hard drives belonging to GOP redistricting expert Thomas Hofeller, who died in August, threw an unexpected twist in the legal dispute. The records indicated Hofeller played a role in orchestrating the inclusion of the citizenship question, which would give Republicans and non-Hispanic whites with an electoral advantage.
The challengers said the findings contradict sworn testimony from at least two top Trump administration officials and undercut the Commerce Department’s claim the citizenship question was needed to ensure better enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.
But the Justice Department rebuffed the allegations from the immigrant rights groups, calling them “smoke and mirrors.” The administration also accused the challengers of mounting an “11th-hour campaign to improperly derail” resolution of the case.
The ACLU notified the federal district court in New York, which first heard the dispute, of the findings this month and asked the court to weigh sanctions against the Trump administration. But Judge Jesse Furman, who ruled against the administration and blocked the question from being added, indicated last week he would wait for the Supreme Court to rule.
They say now, however, that the Supreme Court “should not bless the secretary’s decision without answers to outstanding questions going to the heart of the case.”
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced in March 2018 the 2020 census would include a question on citizenship and said at the time the Justice Department requested the addition.
But states, major cities, and immigrant rights groups sued to stop the Trump administration from adding the question to the census questionnaire and said the decision to do so was a violation of federal law and the Constitution. They also argued the addition of the citizenship question would depress responses from immigrant households, impacting congressional apportionment and the allocation of billions in federal aid.
