Copies of the 2010 Census forms. The 2020 U.S. Census will add a question about citizenship status, a move that brought disapproval from critics who said it would intimidate immigrants and discourage them from participating. Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP
An official from the U.S. Department of Justice who was involved in adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 U.S. Census testified in his deposition that the data gleaned from the change might not even be more useful than what his agency currently uses to enforce the Voting Rights Act.
John Gore, who previously led the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, testified that he couldn’t say for sure whether a hard count of citizens on the decennial census would provide greater benefit above data already used to bring cases involving voter discrimination.
