Congress wants to know how and why the controversial “citizenship” question was added to the 2020 Census, so it asked the White House to produce documents. The White House refused. So Congress issued a subpoenaed. Now, Donald Trump has claimed executive privilege. From Politico:
“Trump claimed executive privilege over subpoenaed documents at the urging of the Justice Department, as the House Oversight and Reform Committee was beginning proceedings Wednesday morning to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with the panel’s subpoenas, which the committee issued in April.“
Democrats claim adding the citizenship question will lead to an undercount. But more importantly, What was the motivation for adding the question? From Axios:
- A 2015 study conducted by a now-deceased GOP gerrymandering strategist concluded that adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census would “clearly be a disadvantage to the Democrats” and “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites,” according to court documents filed in a legal challenge.
- That strategist went on to help write a draft Justice Department letter that argued the question was essential to enforce the Voting Rights Act, the same defense that Ross and the Trump administration have used.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to know why the citizenship question was “magically added” to the census.
The Supreme Court is due to rule on the census question later this month.