Case Summary

On July 23, 2020, Common Cause filed a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Secretary of Commerce, and the U.S. House Clerk challenging President Trump’s July 21 executive order, “Memorandum on Excluding Illegal Aliens from the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census”, as violating Article I, § 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, the Census Act, and the Reapportionment Act. They sought a declaratory judgment that the order was unconstitutional and an injunction barring the U.S. Census Bureau from sharing decennial census citizenship data with the President.

  • On November 26, 2020, the federal district court dismissed the lawsuit as not yet ripe for review, citing the still ongoing enumeration and apportionment processes and lack of clarity as to how the President’s directive would be implemented or what impact, if any, it would have on reapportionment.

Case Library

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia - 1:20-cv-02023