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[blackhawks]

BREAKING: Judge Wants Another Crack At Census Case After Revelation Of New Evidence
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The new evidence being put forward by the challengers were in files found on the back-up hard drives of a now-deceased GOP gerrymandering guru. The files suggested he was more involved in the Trump’s administration’s census change than originally thought.

Among them was also a secret study the consultant, Thomas Hofeller, did in 2015 that said adding a citizenship question to the census would be necessary for the GOP to overhaul redistricting in a way that would boost Republicans and non-Hispanic whites to the detriment of Democrats.

Hazel’s order Wednesday was brief and did not say what next steps would be taken if the appeals court sent the case back down to him. He indicated he will issue a longer opinion explaining his decision at a later date.

Hazel had previously ruled that the administration’s move to add the question violated administrative law and was also a violation of the Constitution’s Enumeration Clause, because it would harm the accuracy of the census. The administration had appealed those two findings, while one of the groups challenging the question in Maryland had appealed his ruling that the question was not a violation of the equal protection clause.

“Judge Hazel’s ruling is a confirmation that the evidence we have submitted raises a substantial question as to the intentionally discriminatory actions of this administration,” said Denise Hulett, an attorney with group MALDEF, which challenged the question.

“The evidence shows an undeniable conspiracy between this administration and others outside the government to jeopardize the accuracy of the census for partisan gain at the expense of Latinos and non citizens of color.”


MORE:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/muckraker/breaking-judge-wants-another-crack-at-census-case-after-revelation-of-new-evidence