Department of Commerce v. New York (2019)

CASE SUMMARY

On July 4, 2018, a coalition of states, localities, and non-profit organizations filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Census Bureau, and various Commerce Department and Census Bureau officials challenging the decision to re-add a citizenship question onto the 2020 decennial census questionnaire as violating the U.S. Constitution and federal law. Plaintiffs argued including a citizenship question would deter immigrant communities from responding and jeopardize the overall accuracy of the population count, thereby violating the “actual Enumeration” requirement under Article I, § 2, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), and the Census Act. They sought a judicial declaration the decision was unconstitutional and unlawful and an injunction barring the defendants from requesting citizenship information in the 2020 Census.

On September 14, 2018, this case was consolidated with a similar challenge related to citizenship and the 2020 Census, New York Immigration Coalition v. U.S. Dept. of Commerce.
On September 7, 2018, the Department of Commerce sought a writ of mandamus from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to stay discovery in the case, citing issues involving the judicial review of an agency action. The Second Circuit denied the writ of mandamus on September 25, 2018, and denied the request to stay discovery on October 2, 2018.
The district court held a bench trial from November 5 to November 27, 2018.
On January 15, 2019, the district court held the plaintiffs had standing to bring their claims and the Secretary of Commerce’s decision to re-add a citizenship question violated the APA and Census Act in several respects, but the decision did not violate the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court vacated the Secretary’s decision, permanently enjoined the defendants from implementing the decision and remanded the matter back to the Secretary of Commerce for further action. Defendants filed their notice of appeal to the Second Circuit two days later.
On January 25, 2019, while their Second Circuit appeal was still pending, the defendants filed a petition for writ of certiorari before judgment with the U.S. Supreme Court, which the Court granted on February 15, 2019.
SCOTUS held oral arguments on April 23, 2019.
On June 27, 2019, SCOTUS affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court’s decision. First, the Court held at least some of the plaintiffs had standing to challenge the citizenship question decision because evidence showed that including the question could lead to diminished response rates for noncitizen households, resulting in diminished political representation, federal funding, and census data accuracy. Second, the Court held the Enumeration Clause did permit Congress, and by extension the Secretary of Commerce, to inquire about citizenship on the census questionnaire based on historical practice and Congress’s broad authority over the census. Third, it held the Secretary’s decision was reviewable under the APA but upheld it as reasonably supported by the evidence before him indicating that such a question would be the best method to collect improved citizenship data. Fourth, it reversed the district court’s decision that the Secretary’s decision violated the Census Act, citing the evidence supporting his decision and the fact Congress was fully informed of their plan. Finally, and most importantly, the Court held the citizenship question couldn’t be added to the 2020 Census because the Secretary’s violated the “reasoned explanation” requirement under the APA by giving “pretextual” justifications for their decision.
On August 2, 2019, the defendants voluntarily dismissed their appeal from the Second Circuit, thereby ending the case.