“New Issue Brief: The Census Clause and the Constitutional Obligation to Count All Persons”

Release:

Following a letter that Constitutional Accountability Center sent to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross last month—explaining that inserting a question into the U.S. Census that asks all respondents about their citizenship status “threatens to undermine your constitutional duty to ensure that the 2020 Census counts all of the nation’s people”—today CAC is releasing a new Issue Brief, The Cornerstone of Our Democracy: The Census Clause and the Constitutional Obligation to Count All Persons.

“Secretary Ross is expected to make a decision by the end of this month on whether to include a citizenship question in the Census,” said CAC Civil Rights Director David Gans, author of the Issue Brief. “A mandatory citizenship question would be an end-run around the Constitution’s text, history, and values. It cannot be squared with the federal government’s constitutional obligation to ensure a national count of all persons—regardless of where they are from or their immigration status.”

UPDATE: Constitution, Civil Rights and Democracy Organizations to Secretary Ross: Reject Mandatory Citizenship Question on 2020 Census

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