Memo links citizenship question, apportionment
Trump officials tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census despite initial doubts among some in the administration that it was legal.
The smoking gun: The report offers a smoking gun of sorts — a secret memo the committee obtained after a two-year legal battle — showing that a top Trump appointee in the Commerce Department explored apportionment as a reason to include the question. It has long been speculated that the Trump administration wanted the citizenship question to exclude people in the country illegally from apportionment numbers. The report was released by a congressional oversight committee.
Against the law: The citizenship question was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2019. In the high court’s decision, Chief Justice John Roberts said the reason the Commerce Department had given for the citizenship question — it was needed for the Justice Department’s enforcement of the Voting Rights Act — appeared to be contrived.
About the Author
Justin Beckett is the Team Leader and Senior Designer at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has worked in journalism for 18 years, including stints as a designer and editor at The Daily Press in Victorville, Calif. and Project Team Leader at the Dayton Daily News in Ohio. Most recently he served as an Editions Coach at The AJC.
