Trump Not Giving Up on Citizenship Question

President Trump has said he plans to push ahead with adding a citizenship question to the 2020 US Census, contradicting previous statements from his administration that the plan had been shelved.

A week ago, the Supreme Court rejected the plan, calling the government's justification for the question's inclusion 'contrived' - and in response Trump asked lawyers whether it would be possible to delay the Census. Critics, including non-profit trade body the Insights Association, had argued that adding the question without appropriate testing would deter responses from immigrants, both legal and illegal, and could result in minorities being undercounted.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration said it had ditched its bid to add the untested citizenship question to the 2020 Census, with the Department of Commerce confirming the survey would be printed without it. However, in a tweet sent yesterday (Wednesday), Trump posted: 'The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question'.

Assistant Attorney General Joseph Hunt has now told a Maryland-based federal judge that the Department of Justice has been instructed to examine whether there is a path forward, consistent with the Supreme Court's decision, that would allow inclusion of the citizenship question on the Census. 'We think there may be a legally available path. We're examining that, looking at near-term options to see whether that's viable and possible', he added.

Judge George Hazel has given the government until tomorrow to let the court know if it will comply with the Supreme Court ruling and proceed without the question, or continue attempting to include it.