Summary
The State of California filed a lawsuit against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross challenging the Commerce Department’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. California argued that the Department’s decision violated the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act.
This case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and produced the second trial victory on the citizenship question issue. On June 27, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion blocking the citizenship question in a related case, New York v. United States Department of Commerce. The judge in this case subsequently issued an injunction permanently preventing the Commerce Department from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
Case Background
The State of California – along with several California cities and counties – sued Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the Department of Commerce, the Acting Director of the Census Bureau, and the Census Bureau over the Commerce Department’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. California alleged that the addition of the question would deter non-citizens and their relatives from responding to the census and produce detrimental effects for states with large immigrant populations—including fewer congressional seats and billions of dollars in lost federal funding. Because a citizenship question would depress census responses, California contended, the decision to add it would lead to a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s requirement for an “actual enumeration” of every person residing in the country. California also argued that the Department’s decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act’s prohibition against “arbitrary and capricious” agency action, because the Department failed to adequately account for the undercount threat when formulating its position.
The court consolidated this case with another citizenship-question suit, City of San Jose v. Ross, for purposes of discovery and trial.
On August 17, the court denied the government’s motion to dismiss, allowing the plaintiffs to proceed on both their Enumeration Clause claim 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, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, NALEO Educational Fund, et al., supporting the plaintiffs in their efforts to block the citizenship question.
The court denied the government’s motion for summary judgment, allowing the case to proceed to trial. The bench trial began on January 7, 2019.
The district court ruled on March 6, 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 March 14, 2019, the federal government appealed the trial court decision to the Ninth Circuit.
On June 28, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the district court’s decision and remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit for further consideration in light of its June 27, 2019 opinion striking down the citizenship question in New York v. United States Department of Commerce.
On July 11, 2019, the federal government announced that it would abandon its pursuit of the citizenship question. On August 1, 2019, the district court judge in this case issued an order permanently blocking the administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
Key Documents
District Court
Brennan Center Filings
Filings, Orders and Opinions
- Complaint (March 26, 2018)
- First Amended Complaint (May 4, 2018)
- Order (May 22, 2018)
- Stipulation for Hearing and Briefing Deadlines Re: Discovery Deadlines Outside the Administrative Record; Order (June 6, 2018)
- Notice of Filing of Administrative Record (June 8, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Opening Brief Re: Right to Take Discovery (June 14, 2018)
- Defendants’ Memorandum Brief in Support of Review on the Administrative Record (June 14, 2018)
- Stipulation Regarding Briefing Schedule and Excess Pages for Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss; Order (June 18, 2018)
- Notice of Filing Supplement to Administrative Record (June 21, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Responsive Brief Re: Right to Take Discovery (June 21, 2018)
- Defendants’ Reply in Support of Review of the Administrative Record (June 21, 2018)
- Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (June 21, 2018)
- Amicus Brief of American Center for Law and Justice in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Justice (June 29, 2018)
- Amicus Brief of Project on Fair Representation in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (July 2, 2018)
- Los Angeles Unified School District’s Motion to Intervene (July 6, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Dismiss (July 17, 2018)
- Amicus Brief of the Brennan Center for Justice, et al. in Support of Plaintiffs (July 24, 2018)
- Defendants’ Reply Brief in Further Support of Motion to Dismiss (July 31, 2018)
- Joint Report on Coordination of Discovery (August 9, 2018)
- Opinion and Order re: Motion to Dismiss (August 17, 2018)
- Order Granting Discovery Outside of the Administrative Record (August 17, 2018)
- Order re: Case Schedule (August 30, 2018)
- Defendants’ Answer to First Amended Complaint (August 31, 2018)
- Stipulation to Extend Expert Discovery (October 9, 2018)
- Order Granting Stipulation to Extend Expert Discovery (October 9, 2018)
- Motion for Summary Judgment (November 2, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (November 16, 2018)
- Lost Angeles Unified School Districts’ Notice of Joinder and Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment (November 16, 2018)
- Amicus Brief of the California Legislature in Support of Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (November 20, 2018)
- Defendants’ Reply in Support of their Motion for Summary Judgment (November 26, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Evidentiary Objection to Defendants’ Reply in Support of their Motion for Summary Judgment (November 30, 2018)
- Order (December 14, 2018)
- Joint Pretrial Statement and Proposed Order (December 21, 2018)
- Motion to Stay Pretrial Deadlines, Pretrial Conference and Trial (December 26, 2018)
- Order Denying Motion to Stay (December 26, 2018)
- Los Angeles Unified School District’s Notice of Joinder in, and Supplement to, Plaintiffs’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (December 28, 2018)
- Defendants’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (December 28, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Pretrial Proposed Findings of Fact (December 28, 2018)
- Plaintiffs’ Pretrial Proposed Conclusions of Law (December 28, 2018)
- Joint Pretrial Statement and Order (January 2, 2019)
- Joint Evidence List (January 25, 2019)
- Amicus Brief of the American Statistical Association, et al. in Support of Plaintiffs (February 1, 2019)
- Amicus Brief of Tech: NYC, Univision Communications Inc., Warby Parker, General Assembly, and the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce in Support of Plaintiffs (February 1, 2019)
- Amicus Brief of Common Cause, Trevor Potter, Rep. Jody L. McNally, and Justice Robert Orr in Support of Plaintiffs (February 1, 2019)
- Amicus Brief of Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative, United Farm Worker Foundation, National Immigration Law Center, et al. in Support of Plaintiffs (February 1, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Post-trial Proposed Findings of Fact (February 1, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Post-trial Proposed Conclusions of Law (February 1, 2019)
- Defendants’ Post-trial Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (February 1, 2019)
- Order (March 6, 2019)
- Notice of Proceedings in Related Action (May 30, 2019)
- Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion to Enter Final Judgment After Remand (July 31, 2019)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Case No. 19–15456)
U.S. Supreme Court (Case No. 18–1214)
- Petition for a Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment (March 18, 2019)
- Motion to Expedite (March 19, 2019)
- Brief in Response to Petition for a Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment (March 20, 2019)
- Amicus Brief of Fair Lines America Foundation (March 21, 2019)
- Brief in Response for the State of California, et al. (April 5, 2019)
- Notice (July 8, 2019)