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DOSSIER – In this July 16, 2018, photo archive, the Secretary of Commerce Department, Wilbur Ross, addresses the employees of the Washington Department of Commerce. The Supreme Court authorizes a trial on the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census in response to the Trump administration's objection. The judges issued a brief order on Friday, Nov. 2, rejecting the government's request to postpone the trial, scheduled to begin Monday in New York. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta, Dossier)
The Supreme Court will leave a lawsuit on the decision to add a citizenship issue to the 2020 census, despite an objection from the Trump administration.
The judges on Friday issued an order dismissing the administration's request to postpone the trial, scheduled to begin Monday in New York. In all, more than a dozen states and cities, among other parties, have filed a lawsuit against US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross's decision to add a citizenship question to the census for the first time. times in 70 years.
The lawsuits claim that Ross acted badly and that the issue will discourage immigrants from participating. The consequence, they argue, would be a dilution of political representation and federal money for states that have a lot of immigrants and tend to vote Democrats.
The administration, for its part, says that the issue will allow the Department of Justice to better implement the law on the right to vote.
Last week, the judges blocked Ross' pre-trial interrogation, but allowed further preparations to be made.
The judge in the case, US Judge Jesse M. Furman, said the evidence suggested that Ross may have decided to add the question before asking the court to ask for it. He also cited evidence that the secretary had dismissed Census Bureau officials, saying the addition of the question would be costly and detrimental to the census.
"Most importantly, the Court found reason to believe that Secretary Ross had provided false explanations about his reasons and the genesis of the citizenship issue," Furman said.
Last month, Ross, in a Justice Department case, said that he remembered talking to Steve Bannon, a former White House senior advisor, about the last year. addition of a citizenship question to the census. He also recalled having discussed the matter with Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the spring of 2017 and, at other times, according to Justice Department lawyers. Earlier, Ross had sworn that he was not aware of any discussions between him and anyone at the White House on the subject.
Judges Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, the first representative of High Court President Trump, reportedly delayed the trial. The vote of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the other Trump candidate, was not clear in the order, but it would have taken the vote of two other judges to prevent the trial from taking place , reported the Associated Press.
Dale Ho, director of the voting rights project of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement: "We are delighted that the Supreme Court has rejected this attempt by Hail Mary to prevent the lawsuit from taking place. 39 go from the front. We will see the Trump administration in court on Monday. "
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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