Lawsuits are piling up against the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The nonpartisan Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, along with the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the citizenship question on behalf of the City of San Jose and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. The suit was filed against the Commerce Department in the Northern District of California. The lawsuit is the fourth legal challenge that’s been brought since Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross agreed in March to grant a request from the Department of Justice to reinstate the citizenship question on the 2020 census.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) was the first to sue, followed by a lawsuit from attorneys general in 17 blue-leaning states and Washington, D.C. being led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D). The National Redistricting Foundation, an organization led by Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder, also brought a lawsuit last week on behalf of a group of Maryland and Arizona residents.
In its 36-page complaint, the Lawyers’ Committee argues that the Trump administration has violated the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act by “arbitrarily and capriciously adding a new and untested question to the 2020 Decennial Census that will require all United States residents to disclose whether they are citizens.”The National Redistricting Foundation, an organization led by Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder, also brought a lawsuit last week on behalf of a group of Maryland and Arizona residents.
Full Article: Flurry of lawsuits filed over citizenship question on census | TheHill.