Department of Commerce et al., Petitioners
Noel J. Francisco, Solicitor General
On March 26, 2018, Secretary of Commerce Wilber Ross released a memorandum announcing that the upcoming 2020 decennial national census of the U.S. population would include a question about citizenship status. He explained that he was doing this following a December 2017 request of the Department of Justice, which said it needed the information for enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. Censuses from 1820 to 1950 had included similar questions, and the Census Bureau had asked about citizenship in limited, more in-depth surveys conducted from 1960 to 2000. Following Ross’s announcement, a group of States, municipalities, and activist groups filed…
