SAN DIEGO, CA —  In a 5-4 vote today, the Supreme Court ruled to temporarily strike the Trump Administration’s addition of a question regarding citizenship from the 2020 Census, citing the official explanation “seems to have been contrived.” 

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought forth by 18 states, several cities and several immigrant rights groups, who stated that the question on citizenship would make communities afraid to be counted, thus depriving states of Congressional seats and much-needed resources.

The Supreme Court stated that while the government has the right to add a citizenship question, it must properly justify it, which may prove to be difficult for the Trump Administration to do before forms must be printed in the next few weeks.

Lillian Serrano, chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, issued the following statement:

“The Supreme Court’s decision to strike the citizenship question is critical for immigrant communities in our region. The citizenship question was clearly designed to intimidate and stoke fear in our communities, which would prevent our communities from being fairly counted, and deny us access to resources we need. Now that the question has been removed, we can focus on what really matters: making sure all people in our communities are fairly counted.”

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