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Courts Seek Clarity After US Justice Department Changes Course on Census
Question

VOA News

   U.S. federal courts and states that challenged the Trump
   administration's decision to include a citizenship question on the
   country's 2020 census are asking for clarity after the Departments of
   Justice and Commerce suddenly reversed what had been an acceptance of
   finalizing the questionnaire without inquiring about citizenship
   status.

   The Supreme Court has ruled that the government's reasoning for
   including the citizenship question did not meet standards for a clear
   explanation of why it should be asked during the count of people in the
   United States that takes place every 10 years.

   The matter seemed further settled Tuesday when the DOJ and Commerce
   Department made public statements and comments in legal cases that the
   process of printing the census was going forward without a citizenship
   question in order to meet deadlines for carrying out the count on time.

     The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest
     to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to
     state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we
     must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [1]July 3, 2019

   But with a series of tweets, President Donald Trump injected
   uncertainty back into the process as he proclaimed, "We are absolutely
   moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to
   this question."

   Friday hearing

   U.S. District Judge George Hazel of Maryland has set a deadline of 2
   p.m. Friday for the government to either say the citizenship question
   will not appear on the census, or to explain how the court should
   proceed with an unresolved challenge that the government violated the
   equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1146435093491277824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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