UPDATE: 2020 Census Started Printing, Sans Citizenship Question, But Trump Administration Won’t Let It Go

By N. Jamiyla Chisholm Jul 03, 2019

Update: June 3, 2019, 6:05 ET:

President Trump tweeted that his administration is “absolutely moving forward” on the citizenship question, despite statements  from both his Department of Justice and his secretary of commerce that the administration was printing the census without the question. 

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On Wednesday (July 3), according to CNN,  Justice Department officials told a Maryland federal judge that they have been "instructed to examine whether there is a path forward consistent with the Supreme Court's decision, that would allow us to include the citizenship question on the census." 

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When Colorlines reported on the Supreme Court’s decision to forbid a citizenship question to the 2020 census, many social justice organizations responded with cautious optimism. Now, advocates can exhale because the “Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaires without the question,” said secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross, the New York Times reported yesterday (July 2). 

The decision to yield also came the day after 28 senators called on Ross to uphold the Court’s ruling on the census. “By continuing to pursue the citizenship question, you will further delay and jeopardize the Census Bureau’s ability to conduct a full, fair, and accurate decennial census as required by the U.S. Constitution and the Census Act,” the senators wrote. “We urge you to stop all efforts to add a citizenship question and allow the Census Bureau to proceed with preparation for a 2020 census without a citizenship question on the questionnaire.”

Many grassroots and social justice organizations have since rejoiced, tweeting that this is a win against an attempt to manipulate democracy.

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