Probable contempt vote after the DOJ rejects the request for census records

The Ministry of Justice rejected Thursday a democrat request for a house for more papers on the addition of a question on citizenship at the 2020 census, which could lead to a new contempt quote for Attorney General William Barr.

In a letter to Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Chair of the Oversight and Reform Committee, Deputy Attorney General Stephen Boyd stated that the documents the Board summoned to appear are protected by solicitor-client privilege. therefore not be disclosed.

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"[T]The committee insists that the ministry immediately release these documents (…) is unsuitable, "wrote Boyd, adding that the Ministry of Justice had already submitted tens of thousands of documents and put officials at the disposal of those interviewed .

The led by the democrats Committee gave both the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce until 5 pm Thursday to comply with his subpoenas, threatening to initiate contempt proceedings in the US. lack of conformity. It was not clear whether the Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, had decided to comply with the summons before the deadline.

A Cummings spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The committee investigated the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, with lawmakers accusing the Trump government – notably Ross – of lying about its origins.

New evidence emerged last week that the administration would have "concealed" the role of Thomas Hofeller, Republican gerrymandering Republican expert, who believed that adding a citizenship issue to the census would boost the Republicans in the next elections.

The Trump administration said it was simply trying to enforce the law on voting rights, but Democrats argued that such an issue would create under-enumeration of ethnic and racial minorities , leading to new congressional districts that would diminish their influence in US elections. .

Cummings said this week that the Trump administration was seeking to "gerrymander the congressional districts in an overtly racist, partisan, and unconstitutional manner," and he accused the Trump administration of "hiding." The Republicans of the committee said that retaining Barr and Ross Outrage is an effort to unduly interfere with the ongoing litigation before the Supreme Court on the census issue. In his letter of Thursday, Boyd took up these concerns.

The subpoenas, which were first authorized in April, forced the Justice and Commerce Departments to return all communications with the White House, the Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump's campaign. The subpoenas also requested memos and witness statements.

One of these witnesses, Senior Deputy Attorney General John Gore, refused to answer specific questions from legislators about his role in writing a memorandum from the Department of Justice requesting the addition of a question. on citizenship. He then ignored a statement before the committee.

In a statement, the Justice Department said that Gore had "never heard" about Hofeller's work, adding that he had "played no role in the request made by the ministry in December 2017 to restore the question of citizenship ".

It is expected that Barr will be officially found guilty of contempt of Congress in a separate case on Tuesday, when the House must vote on a contempt citation for its refusal to hand over the unredacted report of Former Special Advisor Robert Mueller and the underlying evidence, allowing the Judiciary Committee to enforce his subpoena to appear in federal court.

The contempt resolution will also allow other committees to enforce their subpoenas without a vote in the House being necessary.