7/3/2019

CENSUS/CITIZENSHIP/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A day after pledging that the 2020 census would not ask respondents about their citizenship, Justice Department officials reversed course on Wednesday [7-3-19] and said they were hunting for a way to restore the question on orders from President Trump. The contentious issue of whether next year’s all-important head count would include a citizenship question appeared to be settled — until the president began vowing on Twitter on Wednesday that the administration was ‘absolutely moving forward’ with plans, despite logistical and legal barriers. Mr. Trump’s comments prompted a chaotic chain of events, with senior census planners closeted in emergency meetings and Justice Department representatives summoned to a phone conference with a federal judge in Maryland. On Wednesday afternoon, Justice Department officials told the judge that their plan had changed in the span of 24 hours: They now believed there could be ‘a legally available path’ to restore the question to the census, and they planned to ask the Supreme Court to help speed the resolution of lawsuits that are blocking their way.”

Michael Wines, Maggie Haberman and Alan Rappeport, “Justice Dept. Reverses Course on Citizenship Question on Census, Citing Trump’s Orders,” The New York Times online, July 3, 2019