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Trump Administration To Print 2020 Census Without Citizenship Question

Qunn Anya / Flickr

 

The Trump administration has decided to print the 2020 census forms without a citizenship question and the printer has been told to start the printing process, Justice Department spokesperson Kelly Laco confirms to NPR.

The move comes shortly after the Supreme Court ruled to keep the question off census forms for now and just a day after printing was scheduled to begin for 1.5 billion paper forms, letters and other mailings.

In recent days, President Trump had said he wanted to delay the constitutionally mandated head count to give the Supreme Court a chance to issue a more "decisive" ruling on whether the administration could add the question, "Is this person a citizen of the United States?"

It's unclear whether the decision to start printing forms without the question means that the administration has dropped all plans to continue pushing for its addition.

Justice Department attorneys are expected to provide more details about the administration's plans at a hearing later with a federal judge who is presiding over recently reopened lawsuits in Maryland regarding the question.

This story will be updated.

Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) is a national correspondent for NPR reporting on the people, power and money behind the U.S. census.
Amita Kelly is a Washington editor, where she works across beats and platforms to edit election, politics and policy news and features stories.
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