U.S. Drops Citizenship Question From Census

The Trump administration dropped plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census form, a turnaround after days of defiant statements following last week’s Supreme Court decision to halt the query.

“We can confirm that the decision has been made to print the 2020 decennial census questionnaire without a citizenship question, and that the printer has been instructed to begin the printing process,” a Justice Department attorney told lawyers for New York state and the American Civil Liberties Union by email Tuesday afternoon. She provided no explanation, and neither did a Justice Department spokeswoman in Washington, who confirmed the exchange but declined to comment further.

The decision to stop pursuing the citizenship question was made just hours before it became public, a person familiar with the matter said.

The 10-year census is used to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds, reapportion congressional representation and draw district boundaries.

\A day before the decision was made public, a senior administration official had said the administration was exploring its legal options, within the terms of the Supreme Court decision, for including a citizenship question on the census.

Late Tuesday, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that it was a “very sad time for America when the Supreme Court of the United States won’t allow a question of ‘Is this person a Citizen of the United States?’ to be asked on the #2020 Census!”

“I have asked the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice to do whatever is necessary to bring this most vital of questions, and this very important case, to a successful conclusion,” Mr. Trump added, without elaborating on what further options the administration was pursuing.