Supreme Court to Hear Discovery Issue in Citizenship Question on Census 2020 Case

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

Constitution Daily reports that the Supreme Court agreed last Friday to decide, on an expedited schedule, a dispute relating to the Trump Administration’s decision to add to the 2020 census a question about the citizenship. The specific issue before the Court is whether state and local governments that are challenging the addition of the citizenship question may require Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to testify, under oath, about why he pressed for the question on the Census.  The Census Bureau is in the Commerce Department so Ross is the key official in deciding how to conduct the Census. A secondary issue is what kind of evidence a federal trial judge may consider when deciding whether asking a Census question is unlawful or unconstitutional. The judge this week concluded a trial on the overall dispute, but has not yet ruled in the case.

Amy Howe on SCOTUSBlog offers the background of the dispute.

KJ