Posted on 07/08/2019 8:36:06 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Attorney General William Barr said Monday that he believes the Trump administration can legally add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, though the Supreme Court ruled against its inclusion last month.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said he has been in regular contact with President Trump about the question, which the president is determined to see featured on the decennial survey.
“I agree with him that the Supreme Court decision was wrong,” Barr told the AP. The attorney general added that he thinks there is “an opportunity potentially to cure the lack of clarity that was the problem and we might as well take a shot at doing that.”
Barr declined to provide further details to the wire service on how the question will be added to the census.
However, the AP cited a senior official who said President Trump is expected to issue a presidential memorandum to the Commerce Department directing it to include the citizenship question on the 2020 census. Action is expected to be taken in the coming days.
The Hill has reached out to the Justice and Commerce departments for further comment.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling last month, found that the administration's stated reason for adding the citizenship question to the census didn’t match up with the evidence in the case.
The justices blocked the question from appearing on the survey for the time being but left an opening for the Commerce Department to provide another reason for the question’s inclusion. The Trump administration had claimed the question was necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act.
Opponents of the question argued that its inclusion on the census would lead to an inaccurate count of the population, as immigrants might be discouraged from participating. The Department of Justice (DOJ) had argued that the data would not be used for purposes beyond compliance with the voting law, but critics said the perception was enough to cause individuals to skip the question or the survey altogether.
The DOJ initially appeared ready to accept defeat in the legal battles, announcing Tuesday that census materials would be printed without the question. The administration had said in court filings that census materials needed to be finalized by June 30 for a July 1 printing deadline.
But Trump one day later tweeted that those efforts would move forward, appearing to catch even DOJ lawyers on the case by surprise.
“The tweet this morning was the first I had heard of the president's position on this issue, just like the plaintiffs and Your Honor. I do not have a deeper understanding of what that means at this juncture other than what the president has tweeted,” Joshua Gardner, a DOJ attorney, told a federal judge during a teleconference Wednesday.
“But obviously, as you can imagine, I am doing my absolute best to figure out what's going on,” he added.
The DOJ also announced late Sunday that it was pulling its entire legal team for the citizenship question off the case, and replacing them with other government lawyers.
That move has fueled speculation that career DOJ lawyers refused to provide another rationale behind the citizenship question after repeatedly citing the Voting Rights Act in court or that officials feared they would no longer be viewed as trustworthy by judges presiding over the cases.
Whatever happened to /stare decisis/?
More than one way to skin that cat.
Hawaiian Judge doesn’t wear a Hawaiian robe and shirt? What a stiff
—
He must look like a real dork on a surf board.
More totally incorrect armchair legal analysis from the media. The Supreme Court ruling did nothing of the sort. In fact it ruled that there was nothing inherently unconstitutional about a citizenship status question, they also struck down most of the plaintiff's other objections based on New York State privacy and Civil Rights laws. The only section they ruled against the government on was the judicial oversight portion where they said the Government had failed to provide sufficient explanation to the lower court regarding the administrative reasoning for adding the question back and kicked it back to the lower court to give the Government a chance to respond.
The man plays bagpipes. But I can forgive him this one transgression.
(A more annoying sound I’ve never heard)
"YOU'RE FIRED".
:: because they know it will effect their balance of power in Congress! ::
Follow the money. If Medicaid For All is enacted, the Federal dollars will be distributed according to the census apportionment.
Typical of a big government, total waste of time money and resources. The question is not only reasonable given the tens of millions of illegals infesting the country, but absolutely necessary.
still haven’t seen the statute that says a reason is needed...
has anyone else ?
1900, column 16, 17 and 18 Titled "Citizenship". Column 16 = "Year of immigration to the United States". Column 17 = Number of years in the United States. Column 18 = Naturalization. Previous columns as where you were born, your age, and where your parents were born.
1910 US Census. Columns 15 and 16 titled, "Citizenship". Column 15 = "Year of immigration to the United States". Column 16 = "Whether naturalized or alien."
1920 US Census Columns 13, 14 an 15 are titled, "Citizenship". Column 13 = "Year of immigration to the United States". Column 14 = "Naturalized or alien." Column 15 = If naturalized, year of naturalization".
1930 US Census. Columns 22, 23, 24 titled, "Citizenship, etc.". Column 22 = Year of immigration to the United States". Column 23 = "Naturalization". Column 24 = Whether able to speak English".
1940 US Census. Column 16, titled "Citizenship". Column 16 = "Citizenship of the foreign born". They had to clear space for more questions about employment and income due to the depression.
This Bill Barr really does suck at being a Deep Stater that some freepers swore up and down that is exactly how he would be. And they still think he is a Deep State rat.
Not really. Barr isn’t really sticking his neck out here because obviously he has the full support of the Congressional GOP on this one.
Meanwhile, still nothing from the “Trump” DOJ regarding Democrat crimes from now 3 years ago. Plenty of low hanging fruit there and Barr is leaving it all on the trees.
Like Nike says: “Just do it!”
I find it hard to understand the concept that the census can ask for nearly every intimate detail to the point of almost asking the color of my pubic hair but cannot ask whether I am an American citizen. We truly live in Bizarro world, either that or I am one cranky old man, I am growing sicker and sicker of this PC era. I have pleasant daydreams of going back to living in a shack out in the boonies.
Everyone is all excited about Bill Barr and so far its warranted but we just got burnt by Sessions so I can see why people are skeptical. He seems smart and strategic eventually, soon, people need to get charged with crimes and these FISA memos need to come out - unredacted. The American people deserve to know the means and methods and by who exactly - tried to overturn our vote.
This classified stuff in this regard is garbage - the amount of material that has leaked exposing how our intelligence apparatus works has been huge with Snowden, WikiLeaks etc to redact in this matter anything is so bogus at this point.
There is no asset as important no method so super secret in this matter that merits overriding the American citizen right to know the whole truth about how our government was subverted down to the agent level even if it does include Obama.
If we don't get to see these memos then Barr is garbage like the rest and protecting his own and we are just witnessing the surface level events of a power struggle among the elite.
Please continue. The actual questions will be a great find.
There are ways at getting at citizenship without asking directly.
“Where were you born?”
“Were you naturalized?”
“
There, fixed it.
I intend to write in RED on every page that I AM a USA citizen.
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