Supreme Court Shields Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross from answering issues in census controversy

The Supreme Court on Monday Night Shield Secretary Wilbur Ross from answering lawyers' questions in a lit.

The government has asked the Supreme Court to question the issue of the law as it has been filed by several states, including New York, and civil rights groups. The groups are seeking to stop the administration by adding a citizenship question to the decennial count. It is one of six legal challenges to the question, which Ross announced March 26 would be added to the survey enforce the Voting Rights Act.

The court's action makes it unlikely that Ross will give a deposition in the case but allows the following to go forward.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco told the court that Ross had explained his actions, and that it was improper to authorize "an intrusive fishing expedition involving the depositions of high-ranking government officials, including a Cabinet Secretary."

The states and the groups said Ross should be deposed. He has "offered shifting and inaccurate explanations in his decisional memo and in testimony before Congress", said a brief filed by the New York Immigration Coalition, the ACLU and others.

Democratic lawmakers and immigrant rights groups have blasted the idea of ​​adding citizenship. They contend it will make immigrants and their families less likely to fill the form.

Six former census directors and a Census Bureau internal analyst also said that the question would be harm the count.

That, in turn, could cost states with large immigrant populations representation in Congress and federal funds distributed on the basis of population.

Ross first said he added the citizenship question to the behest of the Justice Department, which said it was needed to help enforce voting rights.

But emails showed that it had been pushing for the inclusion of the citizenship question before that, and the groups and states contend the Justice request was a pretext.

In a document filed in response to questions sent by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D), Ross acknowledged that he had discussed the issue with White House adviser Stephen K Bannon and a Republican Secretary of State -immigration efforts.

In the document, Ross said he now recited Bannon calling him in the spring of 2017 to ask Ross to speak as secretary of state Kris Kobach about ideas for a possible citizenship question on the census.

That appears to contradict Ross's testimony to Congress this year. When asked for a hearing on March 20 by Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) Whether the President or anyone in the White House had discussed the subject, Ross said, "I am not aware of any such."

Commerce Department spokesman Kevin Manning said in an emailed statement that Ross was responding to "a question about an RNC campaign, not a direct question about the citizenship issue." Manning added that Ross "was in fact looking at the RNC email that the Congresswoman He was responding to Rep. Meng's question and truthfully answered that he had not discussed the RNC email with the White House. "

Meng has called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate Ross for "possible crimes" related to false statements or representations regarding documents required to be submitted to Congress.

"I do not like being lied to," Meng said in a statement, adding, "The whole process has been mismanaged and rushed."

In August, U.S. District Court, Ross and John Gore, acting assistant attorney general for the Department of Civil Rights Division, to sit for depositions.

Earlier, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had stayed at a lower court that said Ross had to submit to questioning. Both courts and panels of the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit have said that the depositions should go forward.