Norton Statement on Census Ruling by the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released a statement today following the Supreme Court's ruling preventing a citizenship question from being added to the 2020 Census, striking the question down for violating administrative procedures. Norton has introduced a bill in the House to prohibit the Census Bureau from including questions on citizenship, nationality, or immigration status on the decennial census. Norton emphasized that the question serves no purpose because the American Community Survey, which is regularly given to a rotating sampling of households, already asks questions about citizenship status.

"It is clear that allowing a citizenship status question on the census would do nothing to help enforce civil rights laws, as claimed by the administration, because DOJ has always had enforcement authority without such information for decades. However, the reason the Court gave for preventing the citizenship question from being added now was based on administrative procedure grounds, leaving the possibility that the citizenship question could still be added should the Commerce Department follow the legal procedures. The president has already indicated he wishes to delay the census in an attempt to add the question again. My bill would bar the Census Bureau from including this unnecessary, harmful question as a matter of law.

"A citizenship question, far from enhancing civil rights enforcement, would drive down responses, especially from minority communities. If anything, based on our hearings on the census citizenship question, this question seems calculated to drive down responses. Since the all-important questions of congressional apportionment and federal funding rely on an accurate census, we will continue to do everything we can to ensure this unnecessary and harmful question is not allowed to drive down response rates for the 2020 Census. I urge the House and Senate to protect an accurate count on the census, and pass my legislation that would bar the question."