FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, June 27, 2019
CONTACT:
Lizette Olmos, [email protected], 240-706-2624
Diana Castaneda, [email protected], (240) 515-5561
Supreme Court Stops Trump from Weaponizing the 2020 Census

Washington, DC – Today, the Supreme Court ruled to block the citizenship question from being included in the 2020 Census, but we must continue fighting at the lower courts to make it permanent.

“As of today the citizenship question is not going to be included in the Census. It is a victory for our communities and families. We are going to keep fighting in the district court to make sure everyone is counted,” said Gustavo Torres CASA Executive Director.

The Court ruled that the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census, had failed to provide a believable rationale for why the citizenship question was suddenly being added back into the forms decades after it was removed.  It remanded the case to a District Court which has demanded that the Commerce Department provide a legitimate rationale for its inclusion. The ruling comes weeks after a trove of evidence was discovered that a GOP operative lobbied for the question’s inclusion, including with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, explicitly to undermine the participation of immigrants and people of color and thereby benefit Republicans.

“This decision vindicates our argument that the Administration’s justification for adding a citizenship question to the census was contrived.  We look forward to continuing this fight in the district court and ensuing that this question is never added to the census,” said Nick Katz, CASA Attorney.

Outside the Court, the decision was celebrated by national civil rights organizations and community activists who spoke to their feelings about the government’s attempt to deny their very presence in the country through the count.

“The citizenship question in the Census, I see as being politically and racially driven. We need to make sure that everyone is counted,” said Maya Ledezma, CASA member.

###