A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by a number of cities and states questioning the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census can proceed on Fifth Amendment equal protection grounds. In the preliminary ruling, the judge found that the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s decision to add the question was motivated by a “discriminatory animus [that could] result in a discriminatory effect.” The plaintiffs will therefore be allowed to continue discovery. Read more here and here.
