Greenbelt, MD – A federal trial will begin Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
The lawsuit, filed by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC (Advancing Justice | AAJC) is the first and only among six legal challenges to include a claim that Trump administration officials and others conspired to deprive minorities of their constitutional rights to equal representation and to fair allocation of federal funds by adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
President Donald J. Trump, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, then-White House advisor Stephen Bannon and then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach are listed as co-conspirators whose intent in adding the citizenship question was to severely undercount Latinos, Asian Americans, Native American groups, and immigrants of color.
MALDEF and Advancing Justice | AAJC represent Latino and Asian American individuals, Native Americans, social service non-profits, state legislative associations, civil rights groups, voters’ rights organizations, and community partnerships that would be forced to divert resources to combat a potential severe undercount in their respective communities.
The complaint, LUPE v. Ross, was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in May 2018. It was recently consolidated with Kravitz v. U.S. Department of Commerce, another challenge to the citizenship question filed with the Maryland court.
WHAT: Trial begins in federal lawsuit challenging addition of citizenship question to the 2020 Census
WHO: Attorneys with MALDEF and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan.22, 2019, 9 a.m. EST
WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Hon. George J. Hazel, Courtroom 4A, 6500 Cherrywood Lane, Greenbelt, MD 20770