NPR

Census Overseers Seeded DOJ's Request To Add Citizenship Question, Memo Shows

Dozens of states and cities are suing for the removal of the question, which the agency's own research suggests will suppress participation and make the 2020 census less accurate.

Months before he was asked to review a Justice Department request for a citizenship question to be added to the 2020 census, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross already had concluded that including one "could be warranted." In fact, Ross and his staff asked the Justice Department to submit the formal request for the controversial question, according to a newly released memo written by the Commerce secretary.

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