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Deceased G.O.P. Strategist’s Hard Drives Reveal New Details on the Census Citizenship Question
New York Slimes ^ | May 30, 2019 | Michael Wines

Posted on 05/30/2019 12:01:49 PM PDT by Olog-hai

Thomas B. Hofeller achieved near-mythic status in the Republican Party as the Michelangelo of gerrymandering, the architect of partisan political maps that cemented the party’s dominance across the country.

But after he died last summer, his estranged daughter discovered hard drives in her father’s home that revealed something else: Mr. Hofeller had played a crucial role in the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

Files on those drives showed that he wrote a study in 2015 concluding that adding a citizenship question to the census would allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerrymandered maps to stymie Democrats. And months after urging President Trump’s transition team to tack the question onto the census, he wrote the key portion of a draft Justice Department letter claiming the question was needed to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act — the rationale the administration later used to justify its decision.

Those documents, cited in a federal court filing Thursday by opponents seeking to block the citizenship question, have emerged only weeks before the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the citizenship question. Critics say adding the question would deter many immigrants from being counted and shift political power to Republican areas.

The disclosures represent the most explicit evidence to date that the Trump administration added the question to the 2020 census to advance Republican Party interests. …

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Mexico; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; census; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; faknews; hofeller; mediawingofthednc; michaelwines; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; smearmachine; thomasbhofelle
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Wow, they’re really trying, aren’t they.
1 posted on 05/30/2019 12:01:49 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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What about ballot harvesting?


2 posted on 05/30/2019 12:03:41 PM PDT by TakebackGOP
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To: Olog-hai

This is such a F’n lie. The question of citizenship has been on every long form census over the past 5 or more cycles with the exception of one, and that was during BHO’s admin.


3 posted on 05/30/2019 12:04:32 PM PDT by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: Olog-hai

“a citizenship question to the census would allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerrymandered maps to stymie Democrats”

Yes, it would.
Because ILLEGALS would not be counted.
It ain’t nefarious.
It’s Good Governance.


4 posted on 05/30/2019 12:05:00 PM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
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To: TakebackGOP

But its all good to have illegal aliens vote, the more the merrier as long as they vote Democrat..what is wrong with asking about their legal status, gee what is the commie left afraid of, finding out the REAL numbers, more like 30 million


5 posted on 05/30/2019 12:08:45 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: Olog-hai

The article suggests the “gerrymandering” would occur by drawing state congressional maps based not on total population, but on the number of American citizens of voting age.

I don’t understand how that is considered gerrymandering, unless that word means something I didn’t think it meant.


6 posted on 05/30/2019 12:12:04 PM PDT by jz638
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To: Olog-hai
"But after he died last summer, his estranged daughter
discovered hard drives in her father’s home that revealed
something else: Mr. Hofeller had played a crucial role in the
Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census."

Oh no! How terrible of him.
It must be the crime of the decade!!
Her father was concerned about the correct enumeration
of how many citizens the USA has.
And all of this is on his hard drives.
What a conspiracy!

7 posted on 05/30/2019 12:12:28 PM PDT by StormEye
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To: Olog-hai

Translation: Mr. Hofeller’s estranged daughter is a moonbat who gave her late father’s hard drives to the media in order to slam Republicans in general and President Trump in particular.


8 posted on 05/30/2019 12:14:56 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (President Trump IS The Resistance!)
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To: jz638

Twisted logic.


9 posted on 05/30/2019 12:17:22 PM PDT by Rusty0604 (2020 four more years!)
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To: Olog-hai

have emerged only weeks before the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the citizenship question

Where’s the illegality in asking if you’re a citizen?


10 posted on 05/30/2019 12:17:24 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: Olog-hai

Whoopti effin do...............


11 posted on 05/30/2019 12:19:29 PM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: Olog-hai

“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside...

“Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.”

Amendment XIV changed the basis of apportionment, basing it on citizens instead of (free and 3/5ths of enslaved) residents.

The citizenship question is fundamental for the purpose of Congressional apportionment and must be asked and each answer must be verified as per Amendment VIII to ensure due process for American citizens.

The citizens of Alabama shouldn’t be shortchanged a representative because illegals in California were mistakenly/improperly considered citizens.

“Counting the whole number of persons in each State” means each black US citizen shall be counted as one US citizen and not 3/5ths of one.

The Amendment probably also requires illegals to be counted too, but not for Congressional apportionment purposes. Therefore, the citizenship question is required by the Constitution.

The citizenship question is not a policy matter.


12 posted on 05/30/2019 12:22:25 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: StormEye

It just dawned on me, reading your post.

Daughter found hard drives...............Hmmmm

Maybe I’m being a bit too critical, but, is that normal behavior for a daughter, after her father dies, to go through portable hard drives the dad may have kept?

How many people actually use portable hard drives? ((disclaimer...that is not a question to all the FR computer geniuses to start bombarding me with the many benefits of using a portable hard drive. I’ve used them before, use one now, and will use on in the future if the need arises)). But, most computers have enough storage on them for the average schmo, unless they fill it up with pics/videos/music, that they wouldn’t need another drive.

I’m just wondering what possessed her to even do that. From the article, it would appear that they’re painting the guy as some mad, Conservative scientist and that his daughter seems to be the liberal, social justice warrior there to set things right. Weird how some of these Conservative types can have kids that stray so far from the ranch.

It’d be nice to see some forensics done on the ‘hard drives’ or whatever she found and turned over.

But, in the end, this is just another Leftist attempt at manipulating the voting process, just like when they sue to stop the purging of voter rolls of all the dead folks.


13 posted on 05/30/2019 12:26:29 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: Olog-hai
Complete BS! The "Citizenship question" is needed to exclude illegal aliens from Congressional apportionment.

Right now there are over 20 Congressional districts that are apportioned because of illegal immigration. Since illegals aliens are included in the numbers provided by the Census Bureau to Congress for apportionment, they are used to determine how many Congressional seats a state receives. California alone received 5 seats because illegal aliens are included.

The state of Alabama has filed a lawsuit (Alabama v US Dept of Commerce) to force the Census Bureau to exclude illegal aliens from the numbers provided to Congress for apportionment. Alabama is suing, and has standing, because it is projected to lose a Congressional seat after the 2020 Census because of illegal immigration.

The basis of the suit is that it goes against the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause. The reason for this is that in states with high numbers of illegal aliens voters have more voting power than states with fewer illegal immigrants.

If the 'citizenship question' is not on the census, then there is no way to determine how many illegal aliens should be excluded. The courts would drop the case as moot, because even if they found for the plaintiff there would not be a legal remedy for the courts to provide relief.

The citizenship question is one of the most important issues going on right now, and this lawsuit is IMHO the most important legal case going on right now.
14 posted on 05/30/2019 12:26:40 PM PDT by MMaschin (The difference between strategy and tactics!)
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To: Macoozie
Because ILLEGALS would not be counted.

Actually, according to census.gov, they are counted for apportionment. Also, we must make a distinction between legal and illegal residents. My wife has a green card. She is Canadian. She does not vote, but she counts in the Census. I don't think the Trump census question even asks if any are here illegally (might be a Fifth Amendment issue).
15 posted on 05/30/2019 12:27:57 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: Olog-hai

... as though gerrymandering were a Republican only construct. Both parties do it, but Democrats have enacted some of the most insidious gerrymandered boundaries around the country, particularly in California in the 1980s.


16 posted on 05/30/2019 12:30:34 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: Olog-hai

Since they’re not citizens, can they simply count them as 3/5 of a person, the way they used to count slaves.


17 posted on 05/30/2019 12:32:49 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (Chivalry is not dead. It is a warriors code and only practiced by warriors.)
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To: Dr. Sivana
There is a lawsuit to exclude illegal aliens from apportionment, it's Alabama v US Dept of Commerce. Illegals could be excluded by reducing the counts for states by the number of non-Citizens, and adding back the number of documented non-Citizens.
18 posted on 05/30/2019 12:36:25 PM PDT by MMaschin (The difference between strategy and tactics!)
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To: Olog-hai

The disclosures represent the most explicit evidence to date that the Democrat Party wants to delete the question to the 2020 census to advance Democrat Party interests. …

There, fixed it for them.


19 posted on 05/30/2019 12:36:43 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Olog-hai

WOW, is right.

President Trump has got to be the MOST POWERFUL MIND IN THE WORLD.

New York Times...PFFFFT, SPIT.


20 posted on 05/30/2019 12:40:04 PM PDT by Maris Crane
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