The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening legal action if the Trump administration tries a new push to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
“The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s effort to add a census citizenship question was illegal because it was based on a ‘contrived’ rationale,” ACLU voting rights project director Dale Ho said in a statement.
“Despite that, and despite DOJ’s repeated statements that the census questionnaire cannot be changed after June 30, the administration is now examining whether it can concoct a ‘new rationale’ for its citizenship question.”
“The answer is no, it cannot — at least not a legal one. Any attempt at an end run around the Supreme Court’s decision will be unsuccessful, and will be met swiftly in court,” Ho added.
The Supreme Court last month ruled against the administration in an ACLU lawsuit fighting the citizenship question, saying it had not given adequate reasoning.
And though a Justice Department lawyer said Tuesday the attempt to change the decennial population count would be dropped, the agency reversed course Wednesday, saying it’ll try to push forward to include a citizenship question.
"We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question," President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
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