This ruling from U.S. District Court Judge George J. Hazel follows revelations that a Republican redistricting strategist worked with administration officials to include a citizenship question in the decennial census to unlawfully advantage “Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”

Advancing Justice | AAJC and MALDEF filed these documents on June 14 that show that the current Chief of Staff to the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau was in direct contact with a Republican redistricting strategist in 2015, concerning issues related to the citizenship question.  

This motion seeks relief under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(2) based on newly discovered evidence of discriminatory animus and unconstitutional intent by Secretary Ross and the political appointees and operatives involved in adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

The lawsuit was filed by Latino voters and organizations represented by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), and Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice| AAJC (Advancing Justice|AAJC) later joined the legal challenge. The settlement with Texas officials comes three months after state officials began singling out naturalized citizens for investigation and possible removal from voter rolls based solely on the fact that they were born outside the United States.

Download the settlement here above.

Federal Judge Hazel Issues Final Ruling In Favor of Advancing Justice | AAJC and MALDEF. No citizenship question on the 2020 Census. In his ruling, Judge Hazel noted:

“In his cursory wave-of-the-hand treatment of the obligation to pretest survey materials, the Secretary (Ross) failed to identify any plausible rationale for deviating from the Bureau’s rigorous pretesting standards.”

We joined with AALDEF to represent OCA-Greater Houston in the lawsuit originally filed by MALDEF against the Texas Secretary of State for violating immigrants' Constitutional rights by baselessly questioning if they were eligible to vote, simply because they were born outside of the United States. 

For the reasons to be stated in a forthcoming Memorandum Opinion, it is ordered by the
United States District Court for the District of Maryland that:

1. Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment, ECF Nos. 67 (18-1041) and 82 (18-1570),
are DENIED;

2. The parties will be permitted to present evidence outside of the administrative record at
trial; The defense will be permitted to argue at the close of trial that such evidence should
not be considered in the Court’s final decision;

United States District Judge George J. Hazel denied the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss Advancing Justice | AAJC and MALDEF's 2020 Census lawsuit on behalf of Asian Americans, Latino, Native Americans, and others. The lawsuit alleges the citizenship question is based on racial animus and is unconstitutional. 

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC submitted an amicus brief in support of Philadelphia's welcoming policies that help build trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement to create a safer city for all. 

Read our blog on Medium, "Immigrant-friendly cities help communities thrive," for a Philadelphia immigrant couple's story about the positive impacts of trust with law enforcement and local government.