Supreme Court declines request to delay 2020 census citizenship question trial

The Supreme Court declined the Trump administration's request without comment. In the filing, "Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would grant the application" to delay the trial. The hearing will proceed November 5 and the plaintiffs released who they plan on questioning that day.

The context: The lawsuit, one of six challenging Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to ask census respondents about their citizenship status, argues that the move is politically motivated. Critics of Ross' decision argue that non-citizens and undocumented immigrants might decline to participate, and that it would undermine the accuracy of the census, which is used to determine electoral boundaries and the distribution of federal funds among states. 

The administration, however, argues that adding the question would better enable the Justice Department to enforce the Voting Rights Act.

Go deeper:

• Wilbur Ross' growing conflict of interest problem
• Supreme Court blocks questioning of Wilbur Ross in census suit