A federal judge in New York has blocked the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The order from Judge Jesse Furman comes a week after President Trump announced he would collect citizenship data by other means, effectively ending the administration’s attempt to update the coming census.
The order bars the Commerce Department “from including a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census questionnaire; from delaying the process of printing the 2020 decennial census questionnaire after June 30, 2019 for the purpose of including a citizenship question; and from asking persons about citizenship status on the 2020 census questionnaire or otherwise asking a citizenship question as part of the 2020 decennial census.”
The order leaves jurisdiction over the case with Furman in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York so that the court can enforce the order until census results are sent to the president by Dec. 31, 2020.
Trump announced on July 11 that he was ending his fight to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Trump ordered federal agencies to send citizenship data to the Census Bureau instead, backing off a pledge made the week prior to continue fighting to add the question.
The Supreme Court slapped down the administration’s first attempt to add the question, ruling that the administration’s argument hid the real reason it was seeking to add a citizenship question. The court, in a 5-4 ruling, ordered the federal government to refine its argument and come back to the court.
The ruling left little time for the government to pursue the case without significantly delaying printing the census.
