User:Mmwilli/sandbox

Final Contribution

Controversies

The U.S. decennial census is used to determine federal funds, grants and support to states. The U.S. Census Bureau has announced the possibility of a citizenship question on the 2020 census which has caused a complicated controversy. For the first time since 1950, the Census Bureau has released that the 2020 Census will include a citizenship question. The citizenship question was requested by the Justice Department and approved by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

The Census Bureau is planning to ask “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” When asked by Congress the motive behind the citizenship question, the Census Bureau reported that the citizenship numbers are necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act’s protection against voting discrimination. There are many critics of the citizenship question, including Barbara Underwood, the New York attorney general, who is leading a lawsuit filed by 18 states and numerous cities to attempt to stop the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Despite this, Wilbur Ross and the Department of Justice argue against this because they believe this trial will be useless as the Supreme Court may eventually rule in favor of the Trump administration. In recent news, the Supreme Court announced on November 2nd, 2018 that they will allow a trial over the decision to add a citizenship question to the upcoming census.