Pennsylvania through its Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined a multistate lawsuit to block the inclusion of citizenship question in the 2020 Census.
A coalition of 18 Attorneys General, six cities, and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors is suing the Trump administration regarding the matter.
They argued that demanding citizenship information would depress participation in states with large immigrant population. Therefore, it threatens those states from having fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College. It also threatens their share in billions of dollars in critical federal funding for education, infrastructure, Medicaid, and others.
In the lawsuit, they argued the federal government’s action is inconsistent with constitution and statutory obligations of the Census Bureau.
2020 Census must be accurate and fair
In a statement, AG Shapiro said the Trump administration’s move to include the citizenship question “might seem innocuous.” However, he emphasized that adding it to the 2020 Census will depress turnout. Thus, it will result into an inaccurate Census count that will hurt Pennsylvania.
