Trump Administration Agrees to Order Ending Census Fight

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration has agreed to a court order that will formally block it from asking about citizenship on the 2020 Census, Justice Department lawyers told a judge.

New York and immigrant advocacy groups successfully sued to block the question. But even after the Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump in June, he said he was still considering ways to place a citizenship query on the once-a-decade survey. He surrendered that fight on July 11.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, government lawyers said on Tuesday that they don’t oppose an order barring the U.S. from asking about citizenship on the 2020 survey. Census data is used to set political representation and direct the flow of billions of dollars in federal funds.

“This motion will ensure the Trump Administration is held to its words, and that neither the president nor his administration can again change their mind and attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in an emailed statement.

Furman signed off on the order later on Tuesday. He will keep jurisdiction over the case for purposes of enforcing the order, until the census is completed by the end of 2020.

The case is State of New York v. Department of Commerce, 18-cv-02921, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Joe Schneider

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