Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Federal judge nixes Census citizenship question; could help some rural areas get a higher count and more federal funds

On Tuesday a federal judge in New York ordered the Census Bureau to remove a question added last year to the 2020 census form that would ask whether the respondent is a American citizen. The issue could have big implications for states and communities with a large Latino population, such as agricultural communities.

Federal and state money is often apportioned by census data, and Census Bureau research suggests that a citizenship question could scare even legal noncitizens away from participating, leading those areas to be undercounted and underfunded, Hansi Lo Wang reports for NPR. Rural areas are already at risk of being undercounted because of the the Census Bureau's move to a largely online survey.

Though District Judge Jesse Furman ruled on two combined cases, "the administration is fighting five more lawsuits across the country filed by dozens of states, cities and other groups that want the question removed. A second trial over the question began earlier this month in California, and another is scheduled to begin in Maryland on Jan. 22," Wang reports.

The Supreme Court has already agreed to settle a dispute about what kind of evidence can be used in the lawsuits and whether Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, can be asked under oath why he allowed the question to be added, Wang reports.

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