Trump administration asks top U.S. court to intervene in census suit
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - The Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to block a lower court order for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to be questioned by lawyers for a group of states challenging a decision by President Donald Trumps administration to ask people taking part in the 2020 census whether they are citizens.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan ruled on Sept. 21 that Ross, whose department oversees the Census Bureau, must face a deposition by lawyers for the states because his intent and credibility are directly at issue in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in April in federal court New York, includes 18 states and a number of cities and counties, and was spearheaded by Democratic officials.
The Justice Department told the Supreme Court the states should not be allowed to probe Rosss mental state in deciding to add the citizenship question to the census, saying that compelling testimony from high-ranking officials is rarely justified.
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SUPREME COURT OCTOBER 3, 2018 / 4:08 PM / UPDATED 44 MINUTES AGO
Andrew Chung
2 MIN READ
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-census/trump-administration-asks-top-u-s-court-to-intervene-in-census-suit-idUSKCN1MD2LX
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)This joins the coming soon case where Trump & the GOP are attempting to claim double jeopardy against state cases on federally accused. Trump can pardon only federal crimes by them all and himself, but not state crimes. So their solution is to make state cases go away by having their stacked SCOTUS declare double jeopardy. Right now the Court's 4:4, so any
even vote means the under court's decision stands.
They've got a whole bevy of appalling, antidemocracy cases in their Koch funded pipeline just waiting for their 5th Shill to get seated on SCOTUS.
benld74
(9,888 posts)geretogo
(1,281 posts)this third world country .