In Donald Trump's administration, the law is irrelevant, and Trump's Justice Department is wholeheartedly embracing that modus operandi. Given a deadline of 2 PM Friday to explain its rationale for including a citizenship question on the 2020 census, Justice Department lawyers could find none. But they told a federal judge in Maryland that the administration would move forward with its quest to add the question anyway, and that they would get back to him when they came up with something. Oh, and while they noodle on that rationale, they also didn't see any reason to allow plaintiffs in the case to move forward with discovery on their equal protection claim against adding the question. In other words, there's no good rationale, but let's just put everything on hold indefinitely while we come up with one.
"In the event the Commerce Department adopts a new rationale for including the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court, the Government will immediately notify this Court so that it can determine whether there is any need for further proceedings or relief," wrote Justice Department attorneys. "But proceeding to discovery now in connection with a new decision that has not yet been made would be premature. It would also be extremely inefficient."
Remember, the Maryland case is the one in which Judge George Hazel said he would consider new evidence showing that the question was, in fact, motivated by a discriminatory effort to create an electoral advantage for Republicans. The evidence came to light after the computer files of a deceased GOP strategist surfaced, showing that he had both concluded that the citizenship question would hurt Democrats electorally and helped author the question for the census.
Unsurprisingly, the plaintiffs who want to offer the newly discovered evidence in support of their claim would like to move forward with discovery forthwith.
"There is no reason to hold the proposed scheduling order in abeyance," wrote plaintiffs’ attorneys. "Defendants cannot avoid Plaintiffs’ equal protection and Section 1985 claims merely by pretending that the same or a similar decision is somehow ‘new’ or somehow cures the discriminatory intent that Plaintiffs have established as motivating the addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 census."
Meanwhile, Trump flat-out confirmed Friday morning that his administration's goal in adding the question was for the purpose of "districting." Trump's own solicitor general had painted the notion of adding the question to gain an electoral advantage as a fanciful "conspiracy theory." The administration originally argued it wanted to add the question in order help enforce the Voting Rights Act, an assertion the Supreme Court labeled “contrived.”