NEW YORK – The Trump administration wants to add a question concerning citizenship to the 2020 census but a federal judge ruled against it.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said that while a citizenship question would be constitutional, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had added it arbitrarily and did not follow proper procedure.
The ruling came in a case where 18 states, 15 big cities or counties, and immigrants’ rights groups argued that adding the question could scare immigrant households away from participating in the census.
The Department of Justice said it was “disappointed” by the judge’s ruling. However, this decision is not the final say.
A separate suit on the same issue, filed by the state of California, is underway in San Francisco.
The U.S. Supreme Court is also set to address the issue next month.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
