Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

Democracy won a big victory at the U.S Supreme Court when Donald Trump’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census was defeated.  But trust in this core document of our democracy has already been eroded. Scores of immigrants got the message that the census was going to be a vehicle for disenfranchising communities of color. 

We need to rebuild trust in the census, reach out to immigrant communities and reassure them that they can participate in the census without fear. And we must demand that the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau respect this decision and go ahead with printing census forms without the discriminatory citizenship question. 

But Donald Trump has never met a settled law he didn’t want to overturn, if it suits his purpose.  

In a tweet sent from Japan, Donald Trump said he’s asked his lawyers if the constitutionally mandated census can be delayed to accommodate his anti-immigrant agenda.  He wants more time to build a legal case that will put the matter back before the Supreme Court this October. 

We know that the reason Donald Trump wants to add this question is because it will depress Hispanic voting power and boost that of white Republicans. Legal experts are now predicting that we could see a rare September do-over where John Roberts finds a way to change his vote. 

NOW will not let our guard down until this discriminatory, dangerous measure is finally, definitively, defeated. We will stand up for full representation, and demand that the U.S. Census count every person in America—not just the ones Republicans want to vote. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745