Apr 3, 2018 - Politics & Policy

17 states, 6 cities sue Commerce over citizenship census question

Department of Commerce building

Photo: Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call via Getty Images

A group of 17 blue states and 6 cities filed a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce today, alleging that the inclusion of a citizenship question in the 2020 Census will "significantly [deter] participation in immigrant communities, because of concerns about how the federal government will use citizenship information."

Who they are: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington — along with the District of Columbia; the cities of Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, Seattle and San Francisco; and the United States Conference of Mayors. California has already filed a similar lawsuit against the administration.

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