Department of Justice hands 2020 census-related questions to new team of lawyers

The Department of Justice announced Sunday that a new team of Civil Division lawyers will take over handling of all 2020 census-related questions.

The changing of hands comes as President Donald Trump continues to push for the addition of a controversial citizenship question to the census, which takes place every 10 years.

A statement from DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec did not reveal why the change was made, but stated that the lawyers who have represented the United States in these cases so far "have consistently demonstrated the highest professionalism, integrity, and skill inside and outside the courtroom."

Another DOJ official said the new team will be a mix of career and political appointees, including lawyers who work in the consumer protection branch, Reuters reported.

Census data is used to allot seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as to distribute billions of dollars in federal funding for schools, hospitals, roads and other public works.

The citizenship question has faced criticism from opponents who have said that its inclusion would prevent millions of non-citizens from responding to the census out of fear that the information could be used for immigration enforcement, thus altering the allocation of federal funding.

Adding the question could also cost seats in Congress for California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois and Arizona — states with large non-citizen populations.

Meanwhile, the federal government has expressed in court battles over the question that it needs an accurate count of citizens in order to enforce the Voting Rights Act, a piece of legislation from 1965 that banned various types of voter discrimination.