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March 7, 2019

Second Judge Blocks Trump Admin's Citizenship Question on 2020 Census
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A second federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration's
decision to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census, setting up a
likely challenge at the Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Richard
Seeborg of California ruled Wednesday that the move is unconstitutional
because it prevents the government from carrying out its mandate of
conducting the census every 10 years. In January, a federal judge in New
York also ordered a halt to the census's citizenship question, ruling
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated federal rules and
"alternately ignored, cherry-picked, or badly misconstrued the evidence
in the record before him." Voting rights activists say the question is
meant to deter immigrants from participating in the census, leading to a
vast undercount in states with large immigrant communities. This would
impact everything from the redrawing of congressional maps to the
allocation of federal funds.


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