Posted on 04/03/2018 9:33:32 AM PDT by jazusamo
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is leading a multistate lawsuit to block the Trump administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census.
The 54-page complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York was brought by 16 other states, Washington, D.C., six cities and the bipartisan United States Conference of Mayors.
In announcing the lawsuit Tuesday in New York City, Schneiderman called the citizenship question dangerous and damaging.
This is a blatant effort to undermine the Census and prevent the Census Bureau from carrying out its clear constitutional mandate, he said.
Wilbur Ross in March announced his decision to grant a request from the Department of Justice to reinstate the citizenship question on the 2020 Census to help enforce the Voting Rights Act despite fierce opposition from Democrats and civil rights groups.
Opponents argue that given U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions's crackdown on illegal immigration adding a citizenship question will frighten people in immigrant communities from responding to the census, making the numbers inaccurate.
In its March press release, the Department of Commerce said Ross determined that obtaining complete and accurate information about citizenship to better enforce the VRA outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts.
But getting accurate Census data is important to a number of issues.
Centennial census data is used to redraw House districts, which determine how many seats each state receives and how many electoral votes they can cast. The data is also used to divvy up billions of dollars in federal funding amongst the states.
We argue with substantial evidence that this is really just an effort to punish places like New York that welcome immigrants, that are accommodating to immigrants and embrace the American tradition of open arms for all, Schneiderman said.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) accused the Trump administration of trying to steal Congressional seats from states with large immigrant communities.
We have seen this pattern from this administration and from other Republicans to cheat at democracy, to cheat the system, to suppress the vote, to demand things like voters IDs so that minority groups will have fewer voters and weve seen it work. We must stop it, he said.
We cannot have a deliberately skewed census. Its too foundational for American Democracy. And it is so brazen an attack on the Constitution, I dont think it can stand up in court.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) filed a lawsuit of his own late last month shortly after Ross announced the question would be added.
Other states that have signed onto the lawsuit led by New York include Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Providence and Seattle, as well as the city and county of San Francisco have also signed on as plaintiffs in the case.
More Winning.
If it’s important for the census to know how many TVs I own, it’s important to know whether I am a U.S. citizen or not.
Oh what a surprise!!!!! Im shocked!
Ignore these lawsuits and get the census forms printed. Eventually President Trump is going to ignore Federal lawsuits and get on with restoring America.
Leftist have no clue regarding the meaning of the phrase, “choose your battles”.
They don’t have to choose their battles. At least at the circuit court level they seem to win an injunction every time.
You’re dead on the mark.
The Dems’ hell-for-leather embrace of Marxism is bad enough but as usual they want to have their cake and eat it too.
They want House districts and apportionment of seats to favor them but they refuse to allow or endorse any process that would work toward that goal.
They want all the federal dollars they can get but they refuse to state accurately how many of those dollars they should have and, in fact, will interfere with attempts to make such an assessment.
bttt
New York should lead this, they (Dem candidates) benefit greatly from illegal voting.
Print the question. Throw anyone in jail who doesn’t comply.
I don’t get it.
Why are liberals outraged?
Illegal aliens will still be counted.
All citizens, immigrant citizens, will be counted.
Are they against having documented evidence of how many foreign born and/or illegals are in this country?
The feel the need to file a lawsuit over a simple one line question on a census form?
The census is a constitutional requirement and power of the federal government. Immigration policy is a power given to the federal government, as blue states have repeatedly confirmed very loudly.
Since these states insist that states have no responsibility to get involved in immigration (a sole power of the feds), why do they feel they have a responsibility to get involved in census operations (also a sole power of the feds)?
They must mean, making their numbers accurate, not artificially inflated to artificially inflate Dem representatives in Congress.
“Opponents argue that given U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s crackdown on illegal immigration adding a citizenship question will frighten people in immigrant communities from responding to the census, making the numbers inaccurate.”
Maybe not. Illegals may just lie and say that they are U.S. citizens. I would think the dems would encourage to do so.
I have no problem putting the question on the census but I also have no delusions that doing so will result in an accurate counting of illegals in this country.
Support Free Republic, Folks!
And NY state tax payer money is being used in all of this? For shame
Bump!
The United States Constitution is the glue that holds our nation together...DEMAND OUR ELECTED FOLLOW THOSE LAWS....NO TO SOCIALISM!
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