Trump Invokes Executive Privilege Over Census Documents Sought by Oversight Committee
The administration wants the citizenship question as a way “to improve enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects minority voters.”
President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege over 2020 census documents sought by the House Oversight Committee for its investigation into an added citizenship question.
The move came right before the Democrat-led committee prepared to vote Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for not providing subpoenaed materials.
From Townhall:
The Department of Justice has provided 17,000 documents and multiple officials for testimony in response to their inquiries.
“By proceeding with today’s vote, you have abandoned the accommodation process with respect to your requests and subpoenas for documents concerning the Secretary’s decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. The Executive Branch has engaged in food-faith [sic] efforts to satisfy the legislative needs of the Committee. Moreover, until the Committee’s abrupt decision to seek a contempt resolution, the Department was prepared to provide a significant number of additional documents responsive to the Committee’s April 2, 2019 subpoena. Unfortunately, rather than allowing the Department to complete its document production, you have chosen to go forward with an unnecessary and premature contempt vote,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in a letter to Chairman Elijah Cummings Wednesday morning.
“Accordingly, this letter is to advise you that the President has asserted executive privilege over certain subpoenaed documents identified by the Committee in its June 3, 2019 letters to the Attorney General and the Secretary,” Boyd continued.
Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) announced he “would delay the vote until committee members could review the letters from the Justice Department.”
Then-Assistant Attorney General Arthur Gary asked the Census Bureau in 2017 to add the citizenship question to the census as a way “to improve enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects minority voters.”
Three federal courts blocked the question after the judges ruled the Commerce Department “failed to comply with federal laws requiring transparency and a reasonable basis for policy changes.”
The federal government appealed the rulings, which led them to the Supreme Court. The government’s argument in front of the justices took place at the end of March, but the ruling should come out at the end of June Insiders claimed that “the case is likely to go in favor of the administration.” From Bloomberg:
Key U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed inclined to let the Trump administration add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census in a clash that will shape the allocation of congressional seats and federal dollars.
In an 80-minute argument Tuesday that was both technical and combative, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh directed almost all their questions to the lawyers challenging the decision to ask about citizenship. Kavanaugh said Congress gave the Commerce secretary “huge discretion” to decide what to ask on the census.
Republicans accused the Democrats of rushing the contempt vote while the case remains with the Supreme Court. The Democrats shot back that they believe Ross added the question illegally and just want answers.
The Democrats forget that “a citizenship question has appeared in some form or another on censuses throughout our history.” President Barack Obama removed these type of questions in 2010. Ken Paxton also noted in his op-ed at The Hill:
It is worth noting that the citizenship question does not ask about a person’s legal status; it merely asks about citizenship status and thus has nothing whatsoever to do with immigration enforcement. In fact, federal law prevents census data from being used for anything other than statistical analysis. That is the law and there is no evidence any agency intends to violate it.
But Orange Man Bad.
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I love it, let the howling begin.
Also notice how President Trump takes the very PC issues of the Communist/Leftist/Progressive/Democrats and uses them against Democrats!
BRAVO BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RE: “enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects minority voters.”
We need to get a more accurate estimate of how many illegal aliens are in the U.S. This will help, without directly asking about legality. Take the total number of non-citizens, subtract the number of people who are supposedly here legally but aren’t citizens, and voila! I’ll bet the answer is stunning.
Even that is unlikely to provide an accurate number, since illegal aliens routinely lie and say they are U.S. citizens on all types of government forms. There is no reason to believe the census form would be any different.
Those lies should result in immediate expulsion.
Not possible without (a) detecting the lies in the first place and (b) breaking the census’s anonymity.
There are no records of how many aliens are here legally.
I am still taken, each time, to have a president on our side who fights back. It is joyous.
As a kid, I eagerly filled out the 2000 census form with my dad. I thought a nationwide count was cool. When Obama politicized the 2010 census, I promptly threw the form in the garbage after getting it out of the mailbox. I’ll probably complete and send in this next one.
I’ve been adulting since 1973. It occurred to me in this brouhaha over the census- that I’ve never filled out a census form. I mooed here in 1998, so I’ve been in this house for the last 2. The only place I’ve ever lived for more than 4 years kin my life. SO my guess is I’ve never been counted.
I never fill in the census form, because I want my state and district to be undercounted and hopefully get less representation.
“food-faith efforts”? Townhall should hire an editor.
It is a easy mistake to make, was this cut and paste, or retyped?
I just looked it up, Townhall has the typo.
Most on-line contributors need to proof read their output before posting. We all make mistakes, but I think those writing for pay incur a greater responsibility to double check their production. Most seem to rely on that very popular editing software – spellcheck.
Copy and paste can have errors, apparently as in this case. A quote must carry the error through. but should have an added “(sic)” to show the writer recognized the error.
Forgot to add that this quote does have that indicator.
Two things to remember when the Left complains that the question will “discourage people from filling out the census.”
1) It was there before, and no great disaster occurred.
2) *Every* question on the census discourages a response. People will respond to a five question census better than a ten question one, and far better than a hundred question one, no matter what the questions are. To simply claim the question will discourage responses can be met with “Yeah, so?”
Time and time again it is shown that the dems and fake news msm are one in the same.
Now Trump gets to jerk the chain. Does puppy want a treat? Sit and beg. That’s a boy.
Better to put electric dog collars on them 🙂
So, the Democrats object to the Census adding the question about whether the responder is a Citizen, which has been included in numerous Census questions pre-Obama, but they didn’t Object to Obama Census questions like:
“Do you have hot and cold running water?” “Do you have a flush toilet? Do you have a bathtub or a shower? Do you have a sink with a faucet?
“How well does the person in this home speak English?” “Where did this person live a year ago? And give the address for that. Because of mental, physical or emotional conditions, does this person have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions? Does this person have difficulty dressing or bathing?
“How many people, including this person, rode together to work last week? How many times did this person actually leave the home, and what time did they leave the home to go to work last week? Last week, was this person laid off from their job? When did this person last work even for a few days? What was your income in the last 12 months?”
Compiling a Dossier on American citizens -Good
Finding out if a resident is a Citizen – Bad.
Why we need a series of ‘Trump’ Presidents and bureaucrats to stop the Administrative State’s decimation of the Citizen’s right to be left alone.
The government school system along with its subsidized college system has produced sheep who are totally ignorant of our history that provided us with the Gift of Citizenship in this exceptional nation.
Do we have to answer questions like those?
“…investigation into an added citizenship question.”
That might more accurately be termed a restored citizenship question. The question was the norm up through the 1950 census, and then included on the long form questionnaire (sent to a sample of households) when the Census Bureau started that form in 1970.