Federal Judge Rules Against Trump on Citizenship Question Affecting 2020 Census
An Obama-appointed federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from accomplishing one of the president’s initiatives on illegal immigration, according to The Washington Times.
Stunningly, it’s got nothing to do with the border wall that has ground parts of the federal government to a halt.
No, New York U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman has put a stop — for the time being — to a controversial citizenship question that the Trump administration had been planning to add to the 2020 census.
“Is this person a citizen of the United States?” is the question at the heart of the ongoing legal battle.
BREAKING: Federal judge rules Trump move to add citizenship question to Census was unlawful https://t.co/NC4rwFMkEB pic.twitter.com/b6mKXNeE5A
— The Hill (@thehill) January 15, 2019
As NPR notes, “All U.S. households have not been asked such a question on the census since 1950.”
Specifically, it has not appeared on the short form that most Americans complete since 1950. It appeared on the long form unti 2010.
Interestingly enough, Furman rejected the idea that the question was “racist.”
According to the Times, Furman ruled that claims of the question being racist were unproven.
To give credit where it’s due, despite the citizenship question not having been on the census in nearly 70 years, Furman is correct to note that there is nothing inherently “racist” about the question.
The only way for the question to be racist is if the census would somehow target people of certain last names or potentially geographic areas and tailor questions specifically to them. To include it on something as broad as a the general census is not racist whatsoever.
The real problem, according to Furman, is the way in which Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross went about adding the question.
“Secretary Ross violated the public trust,” Furman wrote.
Furman ruled that Ross willfully ignored experts who felt that such a question could deter people from wanting to fill out the 2020 census.
Perhaps most importantly, Furman argues that there’s nothing inherently wrong with asking about citizenship according to the Times. Far be it for me to tell a judge he’s right, but Furman’s completely correct. There truly is nothing wrong with asking about citizenship.
For what it’s worth, Furman also acknowledged that his ruling would hardly be the final word on whether or not the citizenship question will be a part of the census.
However, given the stakes involved in the census — the congressional representation, the billions of dollars in federal funding decisions that it affects — there’s no downplaying any significant part of the process. For both Trump and his Democratic opponents, Furman’s decision is huge — huge enough that it will likely have to be settled by the Supreme Court.
The Trump administration is waging war on multiple fronts from various states, cities and groups, including California, over the citizenship question.
It’ll be fascinating to see how this case will move forward.
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