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Caught Lying: Trump Administration Drops Citizenship Question from Census

Today’s decision by the government to move forward with printing the 2020 Census forms without the citizenship question is a victory for a fair and accurate 2020 Census count. The Trump administration’s lies about the need for a citizenship question were suspect from the outset but they were laid bare by the facts brought to light in the documents of the GOP’s top mapmaker Thomas Hofeller. Chief Justice Roberts joined by four other justices, rightly stated that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s explanation for adding the question was “contrived.”

SCOTUS Suspends Census Citizenship Question In Light of Evidence of Political and Racial Motives  

Statement of Karen Hobert Flynn, Common Cause President: “’Contrived.’ That’s what the Supreme Court called the Administration’s trumped up explanation for adding the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. In documents that Common Cause received in the North Carolina state challenge, Common Cause v. Lewis, emails and reports created by Thomas Hofeller, the chief Republican redistricting mapdrawer, reveal the real reasons for the citizenship question – to make redistricting 'advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.' Suspending the citizenship question is a step in the right direction.”  

NEW FILING: GOP Gerrymandering Guru and High-Level Census Bureau Official Discussed Census Citizenship Question

Hofeller evidence filed in Maryland lawsuit challenging census citizenship question.

New Evidence from Common Cause Partisan Gerrymandering Case Reveals Plot to Add Citizenship Question to 2020 Census for Republican and White Redistricting Advantage 

Previously undisclosed documents obtained by Common Cause in its North Carolina partisan gerrymandering lawsuit were filed today in the federal action challenging the addition a citizenship question to the 2020 Decennial Census. The documents, which were filed by the private plaintiffs in Department of Commerce v. State of New York, reveal for the first time the secret role played by the longtime Republican redistricting expert, the late Dr. Thomas Hofeller, in orchestrating the addition of the citizenship question and the Justice Department’s Voting Rights Act rationale for it. The documents further show that Dr. Hofeller concluded in a 2015 study that the citizenship question would significantly harm the political power of Latino communities and be “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”   

Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Partisan Census Citizenship Question Intended to Intimidate Immigrant Communities

The partisan intent of the citizenship question is clear and Commerce v. New York presents a new opportunity for the Supreme Court, with newly appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to show that it is above partisanship. This case, coupled this term with Rucho v. Common Cause and Lamone v. Benisek, the challenges to North Carolina’s and Maryland’s outrageous partisan gerrymanders, will give the court ample opportunity to show that it truly not a partisan branch of government.

Common Cause Files Supreme Court Brief in Census Citizenship Case & Launches Census Day of Action

Today, Common Cause, along with former elected and appointed Republican officials, filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in Commerce v. New York challenging the addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 census. The government watchdog also launched the next phase in its “Count Me In 2020 Campaign” for a fair and accurate census. Common Cause called on its 1.12 million members to celebrate April 1, 2019 as a Census Day of Action by fighting for adequate census funding from our federal and state governments and getting involved in grassroots organizations who are dedicated to ensuring that everyone gets counted. Members across the country are calling their representatives in Congress to urge them to support the Census IDEA Act and to fully fund the 2020 census.

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