President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that his administration is not scrapping the plan to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census after the Supreme Court handed down a mixed ruling on the question.
“The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question,” the president wrote on Twitter.
The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2019
SCOTUS decided last week that the administration did not provide a good explanation for including the citizenship question, but gave the Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census, another chance to present detailed reasoning to the courts. (RELATED: The Supreme Court Just Ruled On The Citizenship Question)
Trump initially floated the idea of delaying the 2020 Census while the issue was sorted out in the courts, but reports surfaced Tuesday that the administration was dropping the issue — at least for now.
“The decision has been made to print the 2020 decennial census questionnaire without a citizenship question,” a Justice Department lawyer wrote in an email posted to Twitter.
A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed Tuesday to The Daily Caller News Foundation that the administration was in the process of printing the 2020 Census forms without a question asking if respondents are U.S. citizens.
The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2019
Wilbur Ross, the secretary of Commerce, also confirmed the news, stating, “The Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaires without the question. My focus, and that of the Bureau and the entire Department is to conduct a complete and accurate census.”
It is now unclear whether or not Commerce will continue printing the forms, per Trump’s tweet.