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mfcorey1

(11,001 posts) Mon Jul 8, 2019, 10:01 AM Jul 2019

DOJ Abruptly Replaces Lawyers Defending Trump Census Citizenship Question

The Justice Department abruptly announced Sunday it will replace the legal team that has represented the Trump administration in its efforts to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census.

“As will be reflected in filings tomorrow in the census-related cases, the Department of Justice is shifting these matters to a new team of Civil Division lawyers going forward,” DOJ spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement. “Since these cases began, the lawyers representing the United States in these cases have given countless hours to defending the Commerce Department and have consistently demonstrated the highest professionalism, integrity, and skill inside and outside the courtroom.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doj-lawyers-2020-census-citizenship_n_5d22e1f4e4b0f312568662d4

3 replies

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DOJ Abruptly Replaces Lawyers Defending Trump Census Citizenship Question (Original Post) mfcorey1 Jul 2019 OP

the original lawyers NewJeffCT Jul 2019 #1

Or they knew they were fighting a bogus case... Wounded Bear Jul 2019 #2

It's probably related to this... PoiBoy Jul 2019 #3

NewJeffCT

(56,828 posts)

1. the original lawyers

Reply to mfcorey1 (Original post)

Mon Jul 8, 2019, 10:04 AM

Jul 2019

decided they were not comfortable lying for Team Trump anymore, I guess? They valued their careers and law licenses?

Wounded Bear

(58,670 posts)

2. Or they knew they were fighting a bogus case...

Reply to NewJeffCT (Reply #1)

Mon Jul 8, 2019, 10:05 AM

Jul 2019

PoiBoy

(1,542 posts)

3. It's probably related to this...

Reply to mfcorey1 (Original post)

Mon Jul 8, 2019, 01:39 PM

Jul 2019

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212253310

Justice Department lawyers may soon pay a high price for lying to the courts

snip:
ACLU filed a "remarkable" brief in federal court on Friday: drumpf's Justice Department entangled itself in an entirely different web of deceit. Additionally, the brief references a forthcoming motion for sanctions against the government attorneys who litigated this case. In addition to the lie about the citizenship question -- in which the Trump administration implausibly claimed that it added the question to aid Voting Rights Act enforcement -- they also lied about the deadline for printing census forms.

snip:
In their brief, the ACLU invokes a doctrine known as “judicial estoppel”: essentially the Justice Department should be held to its previous claims about a June deadline. “'Estoppel' doctrines prevent parties from making one claim, then contradicting themselves when that claim proves disadvantageous."

Seems like the original team of lawyers could be in deep doodoo...

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