Paul, Weiss Files Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Challenge of a Census Citizenship Question

Paul, Weiss filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 190 state and local government officials in support of the challenge to the proposed citizenship question in the ‎2020 Census. In Department of Commerce v. New York‎, the district court enjoined the Commerce Department from asking about citizenship, finding that its in terrorem effect would result in disproportionately undercounting immigrant and minority communities.  

The Paul, Weiss brief shows that the citizenship question would not only distort the reapportionment of congressional districts, but would cause hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding to be diverted from states most in need. ‎Federal support for public education, child nutrition, crime victim services, community development and many other essential programs is allotted to the states based on population. An undercounted census would shift funding away from communities appearing to have fewer residents. Our clients are state representatives, mayors, county executives and city council members from 13 states, including Arizona, Florida, New York, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. 

The Paul Weiss team included Litigation partners Robert Atkins and Yahonnes Cleary and associates Johan Tatoy, David Giller, Michael Pernick, Robert Rankin, Melina Meneguin Layerenza, Apeksha Vora, Teresa Akkara, Alessandra Rafalson, Adam Savitt and Kyle Sieber.

» click here to read our brief