The state of California is suing the Trump administration for allegedly violating the Constitution by adding a question inquiring about citizenship to the 2020 census questionnaire, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
From The Daily Caller:
The Department of Commerce, carrying out a request from the Department of Justice, announced Monday that a citizenship question will be included in the census to better enforce the Voting Rights Act, CNN reported. The relevant Commerce Department statement said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross “has determined that reinstatement of a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census questionnaire is necessary to provide complete and accurate census block level data,” Fox News reported.
“The decennial census is mandated in the Constitution and its data are relied on for a myriad of important government decisions, including apportionment of Congressional seats among states, enforcement of voting rights laws, and allocation of federal funds,” Ross said in a memo.
Ross explained that the citizenship question helps provide a more accurate understanding of congressional districts. California, however, is concerned that the citizenship question may discourage illegal immigrants from participating in the census, resulting in an undercount and the possible redrawing of political districts, a loss of political representation on the national level, and increased benefits for the Republican Party as power shifts from the cities to rural America.
