WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a January 15 opinion by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman finding that Secretary Ross lied about his reasons for adding the citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The Court held that there was a “strong showing of bad faith or improper behavior” by the Administration, justifying a closer look at its motives. The Court could “not ignore the disconnect between the decision made and the explanation given” and held that “agencies must pursue their goals reasonably.” Secretary Ross did not do that here. The Court has remanded the case for further proceedings. Unless the Secretary can provide a truthful and legitimate rationale for the question—which he cannot—the question will not be permitted. Based on the government’s deadline of July 1 for printing, it seems unlikely it can proffer a newly minted explanation that can pass muster.

“We applaud the U.S. Supreme Court for stopping the citizenship question in its tracks. An addition of the Census question would have chilled minority participation in the 2020 Census and made it less accurate,” said Paul Smith, vice president at Campaign Legal Center (CLC). “The quality of the census has been protected today from the hasty addition of a politically-motivated question. It is of the utmost importance that the census reflect all communities living in the country.”

CLC obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act request in October 2018 that demonstrated that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross approached the Department of Justice (DOJ) and asked them to formally request that the 2020 census include a question about citizenship. Despite initial resistance, DOJ complied, but only after Secretary Ross sought the intervention of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

CLC, along with more than 130 civil rights organizations, signed onto an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs at the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing not only that the citizenship question was unnecessary, but that it would also severely undermine efforts to enforce the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and cause substantial harm to the communities VRA is designed to protect.

Read about the actions CLC has taken to oppose the citizenship question.

WASHINGTON – Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) released an unredacted email chain revealing that Charles J. Cooper, J. Christian Adams, and John Fund were involved in the conversations around the formation of the Pence-Kobach Commission, the partisan effort spearheaded by the White House to search for ways to validate President Trump’s debunked claims about widespread voter fraud. CLC took the Department of Justice (DOJ) to court to find out which officials were on the email chain, in addition to Hans von Spakovsky. After nearly two years of seeking to hide the names of individuals involved in an inflammatory email to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions regarding the partisan nature of the Pence-Kobach Commission, DOJ finally relented after a district court opinion ordered disclosure of the email without the challenged redactions. 

Danielle Lang, co-director of voting rights and redistricting at CLC, released the following statement:

“Since unsubstantiated claims about noncitizen voting have continued to pervade popular discourse, we were committed to seeing this fight through to the end. By releasing this information to the public, we can better defend against voter suppression. We now know that after this email was sent, both Hans von Spakovsky and J. Christian Adams were rewarded for their extreme views with appointments to the Pence-Kobach Commission. The public is now left to wonder why the government fought so hard to conceal these names."

Learn more about the case CLC v. DOJ.