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The Commerce Department announced in March that the issue of citizenship would again be included in the 2020 census, which, according to the administration, was needed to enforce the law on the right to vote.
New York, along with other states and cities, filed a lawsuit in April to block the government's decision to include the issue, saying it would intimidate immigrants and reduce voter turnout.
The Commerce Department declined to comment on Furman's order. The Ministry of Justice also declined to comment.
Ross testified before the House earlier this year that the Department of Justice had "launched the request for the inclusion of the citizenship issue". In his March memo, Mr. Ross stated that he "was seeking to look closely" at the issue following the request of the Department of Justice.
In his opinion, Furman wrote: "The file developed up to here, however, casts serious doubt on these allegations".
He noted that Ross, "by his own admission," began to consider restoring a citizenship issue shortly after its confirmation in February 2017, but before the official request of the Department of Justice on December 12, 2017.
In May 2017, Ross also demanded to know why no action had been taken against him, taking "an exceptionally strong personal interest in the matter," Furman writes.
The Commerce Secretary also said that he "did not know" that he had discussed the census issue with "anybody at the White House," added the judge, adding that There was "now reason to believe" Bannon on the issue.
The judge also noted that Ross finally imposed the addition of the question despite an internal memo from the Census Bureau sent to Ross in January, but made public in June, stating that it would be detrimental to quality "
Furman added that there was "something surprising, if not disturbing" about the government's "aggressive efforts to prevent Secretary Ross from having to answer questions about his conduct".
"The court concludes that the question is not close: Secretary Ross must sit for a deposition because, among other things, his intent and credibility are directly involved in these cases," Furman wrote.
Gregory Wallace, Clare Foran and Ellie Kaufman of CNN contributed to this story.
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