In the 5-4 ruling, Conservative Justice John Roberts wrote that they share the District Court’s opinion that the whole evidence showed “that the decision to reinstate a citizenship question cannot be adequately explained in terms of a DOJ’s [Department of Justice’s] request for improved citizenship data to better enforce the VRA [Voting Rights Act].”
In addition, Justice Roberts wrote,” Several points, considered together, reveal a significant mismatch between the decision the Secretary [Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross] made and the rationale he provided.”
Furthermore, in the ruling the conservative justice noted that records showed Sec. Ross started taking steps to reinstate the citizenship question about a week into his role. However, he did not indicate that he was considering VRA enforcement in connection with the project.
“We are presented, in other words, with an explanation for agency action that is incongruent with what the record reveals about the agency’s priorities and decision making process…We cannot ignore the disconnect between the decision made and the explanation given,” according to Justice Roberts.
