DOJ Is Still Looking For 'New' Reason To Add Citizenship Question To Census

The government needs more time to decide how it will move forward on finding a way to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, Justice Department attorneys told a Maryland federal judge on Friday. In the meantime, the Justice Department wants to delay further discovery on the issue of whether the citizenship question was put forward for racially discriminatory purposes.

It is unclear how U.S. District Judge George Hazel will respond to the Justice Department’s request for more time. Hazel has been trying to keep the new round of discovery on a tight 45-day schedule and has expressed dismay with a confusing series of statements by DOJ lawyers and President Trump this week.

Attorneys for plaintiffs in the case wrote in a separate Friday filing that the government had told them that discovery in the case should “be held in abeyance indefinitely until Defendants reach a ‘new’ decision regarding whether or not they will attempt to inquire about citizenship status as part of the 2020 decennial census.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/doj-is-still-looking-for-new-reason-to-add-citizenship-question-to-census