U.S. district judge Jesse Furman blocked a draft coming from the White house and suggesting to include the question on nationality in the questionnaire of the population census in 2020 year. This decision could affect the election in 2020 and up to 2030 years. The Supreme court is preparing to appeal.
U. S. District Judge Jesse Furman Rules the Trump Administration Can’t Ask About Citizenship Status on the Census Questionnaire — WSJ https://t.co/B8S76SmeG1 pic.twitter.com/nq6mak0HLM
— Vernon Davis (@VernonDavis) January 15, 2019
Lawsuits against the project were received from new York and other States and cities and several community organizations in April 2018. The plaintiffs believe that the presence of the question of citizenship will deter illegal immigrants from participating in the census. Then the US will not get the full data on the number and composition of the population. But also, many are concerned that the census will continue to understate the real number of voters, because in General the data will not get those who will receive an official law after 2020. Then future voters, mainly of Latin American origin, are not taken into account, for example, the budget financing of elections until the next census 2030. Some believe that this option gave was trump, who initiated the project.
In the course lasting two weeks of the trial in Manhattan, the White house repeatedly tried to disrupt the process. In particular, the Minister of Commerce Wilbur Ross argued that the inclusion of certain questions in the census questionnaire is in the competence of the Bureau of the census, it is an internal matter not subject to judicial review. However, the court took into account that earlier the question of nationality in the questionnaires of the census were not included and agreed to consider its inclusion in the questionnaire a violation of the administrative procedure Act, the Federal law that establishes requirements for amendments to the rules of the Agency.
Federal Judge Rules Wilbur Ross Violated the Law and Lied About Controversial Citizenship Question https://t.co/Y3wLkot5y6 pic.twitter.com/oTRpjd9Wxd
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) January 15, 2019
In making the decision to ban the issue of citizenship in the census, judge Furman noted that «hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people would remain without consideration in the census, if it included a question on citizenship». According to the judge, trade Minister Wilbur Ross, who made a project about the question and resisted the plaintiffs in court, «violated the law and public trust.»
