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Pelosi Statement on Federal Court Blocking Trump Administration’s Citizenship Question

January 15, 2019

Contact: Speaker's Press Office, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after a federal court blocked the Trump Administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census:

"This ruling honors the vision of our Founders and the letter of the Constitution, and represents a major victory for the rule of law and the American people.

"The Trump Administration's proposed citizenship question would have violated the clear constitutional mandate to provide an ‘actual Enumeration' of the people in our country, while injecting fear into our most vulnerable communities and making traditionally undercounted communities even further under-represented, financially excluded and left behind. As U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman concluded, ‘Hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of people will go uncounted in the census if the citizenship question is included.'

"This ruling also exposes the true, cynical political purpose of the citizenship question, with the court finding that the Trump Administration offered a sham justification for its inclusion, designed to ‘conceal its true basis,' which renders the addition of the question unlawful.

"As this case continues in the courts, Democrats remain committed to fighting the Trump Administration's cynical efforts to compromise the integrity of this pillar of our democracy."

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