The Latest: House panel OKs contempt vote in census dispute
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the Supreme Court to hold off issuing a decision about whether to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.
In a filing Wednesday with the Supreme Court, the ACLU asks for the delay while a lower court considers new evidence that the ACLU argues is part of a larger effort to increase the political power of the Republican Party.
A decision by the Supreme Court is expected later this month. But the ACLU says a federal judge in New York should be given time to consider the new evidence.
Documents unearthed last week suggest that the Trump administration seeks to add the citizenship question to help officials gerrymander legislative districts in overtly partisan and racist ways.
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4:39 p.m.
A House committee has voted to hold two top Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas for documents related to the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee voted 24-15 Wednesday to advance contempt measures against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
The vote marks an escalation of Democratic efforts to use their House majority to aggressively investigate the inner workings of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The White House asserted executive privilege on the matter earlier Wednesday, asserting that officials had “engaged in good-faith efforts” to satisfy the committee’s oversight needs and labeling the planned contempt vote “unnecessary and premature.”
Democrats fear the citizenship question will reduce census participation in immigrant-heavy communities.
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1:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump has asserted executive privilege over documents that were subpoenaed by Congress related to his administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, the Justice Department says.
The claim comes as the House Oversight and Reform Committee considers whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for failing to turn over the subpoenaed documents.
A contempt vote by the committee would be an escalation of Democratic efforts to use their House majority to aggressively investigate the inner workings of the Trump administration.
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