The Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to fast-track review of the Trump administration’s decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census, bypassing the federal appeals court.
The Trump administration asked the high court Tuesday to review the case after a trial court in New York last week blocked the administration from including the question on the upcoming census questionnaire.
The judge in that case, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ decision to add the question to the 2020 census violated federal law. Ross, he said, engaged in a “veritable smorgasbord of classic, clear-cut” violations of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Furman’s order will likely be appealed by the Justice Department to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But in the filing to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Noel Francisco warned timing is crucial for the Trump administration as it prepares for the 2020 census, warranting quick action by the high court.
“[T]he government must finalize the census questionnaire by the end of June 2019 to enable it to be printed on time,” Francisco wrote in his filing. “It is exceedingly unlikely that there is sufficient time for review in both the court of appeals and in this court by that deadline.”
Francisco predicted that even if the court were to expedite briefing and a decision from the 2nd Circuit, “the case would not reach this court until the spring at the earliest, leaving insufficient time for briefing, argument, and decision absent extraordinary expedition.”
The Justice Department proposed the Supreme Court hear the case this term, either during its April sitting or during a special sitting in May.
The high court was scheduled to hear arguments Feb. 19 in a case involving evidence that can be considered in the legal challenges to the administration’s decision to reinstate the citizenship question. One of the issues is whether Ross can be forced to sit for a deposition.
But as a result of Furman’s order, the court removed the argument from its calendar last week.
Ross announced in March 2018 that the upcoming census questionnaire would include the question: “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” The Trump administration said such a question was needed to ensure enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.
But the action was swiftly challenged in federal court by a bevy of states, cities, and immigrant-rights groups, who argued the administration violated federal law and the Constitution. They warned the inclusion of a citizenship question would lead to a population undercount that would disproportionately affect states and cities with large immigrant populations.
The trial in New York is one of several challenges that came in response to the addition of the citizenship question, with a trial currently underway in California and a second in Maryland.
[Related: House Democrats to quiz Wilbur Ross on census citizenship question]
