…Just in at The Hill….
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census was unlawful.
In his ruling, Judge Jesse Furman, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, blocked the administration from adding the question the Census questionnaire.
Furman, an Obama appointee, said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Rossviolated a statute that requires him to collect data through the acquisition and use of “administrative records” instead of through “direct inquiries” on a survey such as the census.
But Furman said he was unable to find that Ross’s decision to add the question was a pretext for impermissible discrimination as the challengers had argued……
The Census citizenship question is going to the Supreme’s for a judgement call…..
The Supreme Court will decide whether the 2020 census can include a question about citizenship that could affect the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives and the distribution of billions of dollars in federal money.
The justices have agreed to a speedy review of a lower court ruling that has so far blocked the Trump administration from adding the citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950….
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