CASE SUMMARY

On November 17, 2021, the Citizens for Constitutional Integrity filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Census Bureau, its Director, and the Secretary of the Department of Commerce challenging the Bureau's apportionment of congressional representatives following the 2020 Decennial Census as violating the 14th Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act (the "APA"). The plaintiffs suit centers around the never-been-enforced Section 2 of the 14th Amendment (the "Penalty Clause"), which provides that when congressional representatives are apportioned among the States according to their respective numbers, if a State has denied or in any way abridged the right to vote of voting-age citizens other than in cases of certain crimes or rebellion, "the basis for representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such [] citizens shall bear to the whole number of [such] citizens . . . in such State." They allege the defendants failed to implement their duties under the 14th Amendment by failing to adjust the 2020 apportionment of congressional representatives in accordance with this provision, citing various states' voter registration and voter identification laws as denials or abridgements of the right to vote within the scope of the Penalty Clause, and that by failing to consider and implement the Penalty Clause's requirements they violated the APA. They are seeking a judicial declaration that the defendants violated the 14th Amendment and the APA and that the congressional reapportionment report based off the 2020 Census is void, an order vacating and remanding the report to the Census Bureau, and an injunction mandating the Bureau reapportion and reissue the report in accordance with the 14th Amendment's requirements using the Census Bureau's data of citizens and voter registration rates.

The case was dismissed for lack of standing on April 18, 2023. Plaintiffs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

CASE LIBRARY

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia - No. 1:21-cv-3045

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit - No. 23-5140

Citizens for Constitutional Integrity v. Census Bureau
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