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.
Or could the inverse be true? Could it be that cities like New York are trying to steal seats, power and Federal cash from states that are not so welcoming to illegal aliens?
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.
Again, might it be the inverse is true? Might it be that Democrats are cheating at democracy?
Is it fair to inflate the representation of your state with illegal aliens who do not have the right to vote?
Is it fair or honest to have the dead and illegal aliens vote?
Is it honest to have a voter roll that has not been purged of people that are dead or have moved out of the state?
Is it an honest election if a person can just walk in to vote and claim to be anyone and not be asked to prove that they are who they say they are?
All excellent points that liberals won’t admit to.
Lefturds claim that counting illegals toward congressional representation, federal funding, etc. is somehow protected by the US constitution. What b.s.!!!
Legal and non-legal residents would both answer "no" to the citizen question. What's the problem with that?
-PJ
You’re correct but liberals contend it’ll scare illegals and they won’t fill it out, I believe many will just lie and check the U.S. citizen box.
Once can see how that ultimately would turn out poorly for Democrats.
Consider, if illegal aliens falsely claim to be citizens on the census, then the number of non-citizens will be undercounted. From this population will be derived the number of illegal aliens, and from that number will be based the debate on amnesty.
If there is to be some preliminary steps toward legalizing illegal aliens that includes them registering, and if the count of illegal alien registrants blows away the estimates based on the false census, then Democrats will be blamed for foisting another "IllegalCare" on the nation, that is, promising a small impact when the true impact is yuge.
It's too bad, however, that our feckless Republicans will not press this issue against Democrats; they will roll over and take the blame.
-PJ
They know that the census numbers will prove massive voter fraud in blue states. It will negate any claim Hillary has to winning ‘the popular vote.’ And, it will reduce the amount of federal dollars/grants going into sanctuary states, since those dollars will be based on the needs of actual American citizens, not illegals. Sanctuary states depend heavily on federal dollars to provide full services to illegals.
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