2020 Census: Supreme Court rules Wilbur Ross does not have to reveal motives for adding citizenship question

Richard Wolf | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court stepped into a political minefield Monday night by ruling that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross does not have to reveal his motives for adding a question on citizenship to the 2020 Census.

Despite their desire to keep a low, nonpartisan profile following the three-month Senate battle to confirm Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the justices were forced to enter a dispute that could affect the political and financial clout of immigrant communities.

The issue was whether Ross, who oversees the Census, and other officials can be questioned by lawyers for opponents seeking to block the citizenship question.

The court's unsigned order specified only that Ross should be immune from questioning. Two justices – Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas – dissented in part to make clear that they would have absolved other government officials as well from what they termed an "inquisition."

Federal district and appeals court judges approved the deposition as recently as last month, and opponents of the citizenship question were anxious to get the information on the eve of a scheduled Nov. 5 trial in New York.

Ross announced the addition of the citizenship question in March, but it has been tied up in court ever since. The government has not asked about individuals' citizenship on the Census since 1950.

Opponents, including California, New York, the American Civil Liberties Union and immigration rights groups, contend fears of deportation among undocumented immigrants will cause them to be undercounted. The Census is a hard count of all people living in the United States, not just U.S. citizens.

Areas with large immigrant populations, which tend to be urban and vote Democratic, could lose seats in the House of Representatives as well as federal, state and local funds used for public works and social service projects.

New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, among others, sought to quiz Ross because of what she told the court were "several highly unusual circumstances that called into question the accuracy and completeness of the secretary’s stated rationale for adding the citizenship question."

Ross initially said the Justice Department reinstated the citizenship question as a means of enforcing the Voting Rights Act. It was later revealed that he made the decision himself and asked Justice officials to back him up, despite their reluctance.

And the government recently acknowledged in court papers "for the sake of completeness" that Ross discussed the plan with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Nevertheless, U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued that the effort to depose Ross amounted to "an intrusive fishing expedition." Opponents, he said, should not be entitled "to probe Secretary Ross’s mental processes – his subjective motivations –when he decided to reinstate the citizenship question."

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