Posted on 07/04/2018 4:24:14 AM PDT by wtd
Citing “bad faith,” a federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to disclose additional information regarding its decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Judge Jesse Furman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York announced on Tuesday that lawyers representing the government must produce a log of documents that were being withheld, as well as provide an explanation for why the administration did so.
Furman further demanded that the government include documents from the Commerce and Justice Departments in their discovery.
In March, the Commerce Department announced it would reintroduce the citizenship question, which had been asked until 1960.
The lawsuit was filed by Attorneys General in New York, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Stating that the “Trump administration proposes to unlawfully expand purposefully narrow existing protections, without consideration of the consequences,” the AGs opposed the proposed rule, which “seeks to dramatically expand the ability of businesses and individuals to refuse to provide necessary health care on the basis of businesses' or employees’ “‘religious, moral, ethical, or other beliefs.”
According to a Washington Times report, Furman, an Obama appointee, said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross initially claimed that he added the question at the request of the Justice Department was undercut by his recent admission that he was thinking about it even before then.
Furman ordered the government to disclose all the information on its decision-making regarding the decision, and according to reports, he is unlikely to dismiss the lawsuit, despite the president and his administration’s protestations.
Following the judge’s decision, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood praised Furman, noting that she is leading a coalition of Attorney Generals that “filed a suit to protect a full and fair Census.”
“Today marked a major win in our lawsuit to protect the Census, with a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to provide vital information on how the decision to demand citizenship status was made, and what it may mean for New Yorkers and American’s across the country,” she said.
“The federal government has a solemn obligation to ensure a fair and accurate count of all people in this country. By demanding the citizenship status of each resident, the Trump administration is breaking with decades of policy and potentially causing a major undercount that would threaten billions in federal funds and New York’s fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College.”
In a letter to Ross that was posted on social media, more than 50 members of Commerce demanded answers after receiving “contradictory and misleading statements made by members of the Trump administration to Congress in regards to the process behind the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.”
“Given these glaring contradictions between administration testimonies and recently released internal communications, we ask that (Ross) respond to (several) questions for the purpose of clarifying the origination, intention and justification of adding a citizenship question to the census.”
Get Rod Rosenstain on it right away.
See how that works out for you, Judge President?
Just one more of many “judges” legislating from their bench who could use a good dragging down a rocky road behind an American made pick em up truck.
Amazing that they don’t even try to hide their political bias anymore. Should be grounds for impeachment.
SCOTUS just handed down a decision stating that the Executive branch has the authority to manage such things, did they not?
Just sling as much sh*t up against the wall, see what sticks, force the Administration to go to court in the hopes that during the delays, as many 3rd world savages as possible can come in and vote in our elections.
Ahhh, it's about the money. Always about the money.
Well, that's OUR money, Pinko.
The citizenship question is a much better addition to just doing a head count as opposed to the rest of the BS the nosey Census usually ask.
Why isn’t it racist for the Census to ask about your race when they never define race?
Yuck Foo, Judge. Sick of this crap.
Trump not obligated to even read it.
The spirit of Cut ‘em Loose Bruce is alive and well in the Big Apple.
Yet another federal district judge, in a progressive jurisdiction, assumes that they have power over the presidency. Justice Thomas has already told these district courts to stop making these Universal declarations.
The purpose of the census is to count the citizens, not those passing through. The question is essential.
Also, ask if upholds the Constitution of the USA. Answer no - deported the next day.
Congress needs to impeach and remove this judge as as lesson to the rest not to usurp power.
I am so sick of these out-of-contrl judges.
I do think that we should get a real accurate count and an assessment of the demographics of these areas. Then have a separate fight about whether to count the illegal aliens in the funding. Why is it that this judge is advocating for blind funding? Why’s there an opposition to looking under the hood?
Why did I know this junk-judge was appointed by Obama before I even looked?
Americans have a question about their census which is conducted with billions of tax dollars.
BACKSTORY When Obama came into office, he apparently had plans for the census that he had made well in advance of taking office. Yet, he did not share his plans with voters. Within days, without much fanfare, Obama’s first official act was to takeover the census. The White House moved control of the Census from the Commerce Department to the Executive Branch and indicated that Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel would be in charge.
Not only is this the wrong political move to make, it may also be unconstitutional. It is the duty of the Congress to take the Census every 10 years and through a law passed in Congress, it gives the power to execute the Census to the Commerce Department. If Congress has established — by law — that Commerce has the responsibility, the White House can’t override that law. If it does so, the action is illegal and unconstitutional to boot.
QUESTION What changes were made, and what laws did Obama and Rham emanuel violate while the census was under their direct control?
Contact President Trump:
Tel Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414
email. president@whitehouse.gov
WH CONTACT PAGE https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
CONTACT CONGRESS: Capitol Switchboard 1-866-220-0044
Contact Jeff Sessions
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Comment Line: 202-353-1555
Switchboard: 202-514-2000
Q: Is there any other country on the planet that allows foreigners to vote in national elections, anyone know?
Just curious.
Just sayin'.
In what jurisdiction should a citizen be counted on Census Day when they may not spend even 180 days at a given residence, nor even within the USA?
California stands to lose two House seats and electoral votes if there’s a citizenship question. That’s all this about.
People say illegals can’t vote, but there are essentially two Democrats from California alone right now in our House of Representatives who represent illegal aliens, not to mention the two electoral votes Clinton received from them (again, from California alone.)
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