Summary
Residents of Maryland and Arizona challenged the Department of Commerce’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The plaintiffs argued that the decision violated the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act.
This case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and resulted in a court order blocking the citizenship question.
Case Background
A group of individuals from Maryland and Arizona sued the Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau over the Commerce Department’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The plaintiffs alleged that the addition of the question would reduce census response rates and produce a disproportionate undercount in states with high numbers of certain demographic groups, including non-English speakers, people of Hispanic or Latino origin, and immigrants.
The plaintiffs contended that, because the citizenship question would produce an inaccurate and incomplete head count, the Commerce Department’s decision to add it violated the federal government’s constitutional requirement to conduct an “actual enumeration” of every person living in the country. The suit also claimed that the department added the citizenship question without adequately assessing its likely impact on response rates. For this and other reasons, the plaintiffs asserted, the Commerce Department’s decision also violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
The plaintiffs asked the court to block the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau from including the citizenship question on the 2020 Census.
On August 22, 2018, the court denied the government’s motion to dismiss, allowing the plaintiffs to proceed on both their Enumeration Clause and their Administrative Procedure Act claims. The court also granted the plaintiffs discovery beyond the administrative record.
During the motion to dismiss briefing, the Brennan Center filed an amicus brief with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, Muslim Advocates, and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, supporting the plaintiffs in their efforts to block the citizenship question.
On December 19, 2018, the court denied the government’s motion for summary judgment, allowing the case to proceed to trial. The court consolidated this case with La Union Del Pueblo Entero v. Ross for the purposes of that trial.
The district court ruled on April 5, 2019 for the plaintiffs on their APA and Enumeration Clause claims, and ordered the Commerce Department to remove the citizenship question from the 2020 Census.
On June 25, 2019 the Fourth Circuit granted the plaintiffs request to remand the case to the district court for further discovery on their equal protection claims in light of newly discover evidence regarding the Trump administration’s reason for adding the citizenship question. On July 5, the district court ordered that discovery to proceed.
On July 11, 2019, the federal government announced that it would abandon its pursuit of the citizenship question. The district court subsequently issued a permanent injunction barring the administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
Key Documents
District Court
Brennan Center Filings
Filings, Orders, and Opinions
- Complaint (April 11, 2018)
- First Amended Complaint (May 3, 2018)
- Order (May 31, 2018)
- Motion to Dismiss (June 6, 2018)
- Notice of Filing Administrative Record Certification and Index (June 8, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (June 22, 2018)
- Amicus Brief of the State of Maryland in Support of Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (June 25, 2018)
- Joint Motion to Extend Deadline to Submit Letters Addressing the Availability and Scope of Discovery Beyond the Administrative Record (June 26, 2018)
- Amicus Brief of Current Members of Congress and Bipartisan Former Members of Congress in Support of Plaintiffs (June 26, 2018)
- Amicus Brief of the Brennan Center for Justice, et al. in Support of Plaintiffs (June 27, 2018)
- Reply Memorandum of Law in Further Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (July 2, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Letter Brief Regarding Discovery Outside of the Administrative Record (July 13, 2018)
- Defendants’ Letter Brief Regarding Discovery Outside of the Administrative Record (July 13, 2018)
- Opinion and Order re: Motion to Dismiss (August 22, 2018)
- Joint Proposal for Pretrial Schedule (August 29, 2018)
- Second Amended Complaint (September 9, 2018)
- Corrected Scheduling Order (September 10, 2018)
- Notice of Stay (October 10, 2018)
- Defendants’ Answer to Second Amended Complaint (October 25, 2018)
- Joint Status Report (November 2, 2018)
- Motion for Summary Judgment (November 12, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (November 27, 2018)
- Defendants’ Reply in Further Support of Motion for Summary Judgment (December 4, 2018)
- Third Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (December 4, 2018)
- Joint Motion to Consolidate Cases (December 6, 2018)
- Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint (December 17, 2018)
- Order Denying Motion for Summary Judgment (December 19, 2018)
- Motion to Stay Pretrial Deadlines, Pretrial Conference and Trial (December 27, 2018)
- Order Denying Motion to Stay (December 28, 2018)
- Memorandum Opinion re: Order Denying Motion for Summary Judgment (December 28, 2018)
- Joint Proposed Pretrial Order (January 14, 2019)
- Joint Stipulations of Fact (January 14, 2019)
- Letter Order (January 16, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Letter re: Letter Order (January 17, 2019)
- Proposed Exhibit List (January 18, 2019)
- Amicus Brief of the American Statistical Association, et al. in Support of Plaintiffs (February 13, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Proposed Findings of Fact (February 14, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Proposed Conclusions of Law (February 14, 2019)
- Defendants’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (February 14, 2019)
- Order (April 5, 2019)
- Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (April 5, 2019)
- Notice of Appeal (April 8, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Rule 60(B)(2) Motion for Relief From Final Judgment & Request for Indicative Ruling Under Rule 62.1(A) (June 3, 2019)
- Memorandum in Support of Plaintiffs’ Rule 60(B)(2) Motion for Relief From Final Judgment & Request for Indicative Ruling Under Rule 62.1(A) (June 3, 2019)
- Order (June 4, 2019)
- Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Rule 60(b)(2) Motion for Relief From Final Judgment & Request for Indicative Ruling Under Rule 62.1(A) (June 10, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Reply in Further Support of Their Rule 60(B)(2) Motion for Relief From Final Judgment & Request For Indicative Ruling Under Rule 62.1(A) (June 14, 2019)
- Notice (June 19, 2019)
- Order (June 19, 2019)
- Memorandum Opinion (June 24, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Injunction Pending Appeal (June 26, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Motion for Expedited Briefing Schedule (June 26, 2019)
- Notice of Plaintiffs’ Proposed Scheduling Order (July 5, 2019)
- Defendants’ Proposed Discovery Plan (July 5, 2019)
- Letter Order (July 5, 2019)
- Scheduling Order (July 5, 2019)
- Defendants’ Motion to Withdraw Counsel (July 8, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Response re: Motion to Withdraw Counsel (July 9, 2019)
- Defendants’ Reply (July 10, 2019)
- Memorandum and Opinion re: Motion to Withdraw Counsel (July 10, 2019)
- Order (July 16, 2019)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Case No. 19–1382)
- Briefing Order (May 10, 2019)
- Amended Plaintiff-Appellees’ Motion to Expedite Appeal (May 18, 2019)
- Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Expedite (May 20, 2019)
- Plaintiff-Appellees’ Response to Defendants’ Motion to Place the Consolidated Appeals in Abeyance (May 22, 2019)
- Kravitz et al. Plaintiffs-Appellees Response Regarding Briefing Schedule (May 23, 2019)
- Order (May 29, 2019)
- Brief for Defendants-Appellees (June 19, 2019)
- Corrected Notice of District Court’s Indicative Ruling and Motion for Remand (June 20, 2019)
- Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand (June 24, 2019)
- Order (June 25, 2019)
- Joint Motion for Abeyance (June 25, 2019)
- Plaintiffs-Appellees’ Reply Brief (June 26, 2019)
- Order (June 28, 2019)
- Unopposed Motion to Voluntarily Dismiss Appeal (July 15, 2019)
- Order of USCA (August 19, 2019)