CENSUS/CITIZENSHIP/COURTS/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A federal judge in Manhattan shot down the Trump administration’s attempt to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census Tuesday [1-15-19], potentially paving the way for the case to land before the Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman found that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated the Administrative Procedures Act by adding the question but also that challengers were unable to prove that the question was intended to discriminate against noncitizens. Furman ripped Ross’ decision-making process in adding the question, saying in his 277-page opinion that Ross’ move to ask for citizenship status for the first time in nearly 60 years committed ‘egregious’ violations of a law structured to allow for judicial and congressional review of the actions taken by federal agencies. A coalition of 18 states and the District of Columbia, 15 cities and counties, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, along with a second coalition of nongovernmental organizations led by the New York Immigration Coalition, sued the Commerce Department last spring over the planned inclusion of the question, which Furman’s ruling vacated.”
–Caitlin Oprysko, “Judge rules against Trump administration’s citizenship question on 2020 census,” Politico, January 15, 2019 12:59 pm