Deceased G.O.P. Strategist's Hard Drives Reveal New Details on the Census Citizenship Question

[swag]

Source: New York Times

By Michael Wines
May 30, 2019

. . .

Files on those drives showed that he wrote a study in 2015 concluding that adding a citizenship question to the census would allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerrymandered maps to stymie Democrats. And months after urging President Trump’s transition team to tack the question onto the census, he wrote the key portion of a draft Justice Department letter claiming the question was needed to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act — the rationale the administration later used to justify its decision.

Those documents, cited in a federal court filing Thursday by opponents seeking to block the citizenship question, have emerged only weeks before the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the citizenship question. Critics say adding the question would deter many immigrants from being counted and shift political power to Republican areas.

The disclosures represent the most explicit evidence to date that the Trump administration added the question to the 2020 census to advance Republican Party interests.

In Supreme Court arguments in April over the legality of the decision, the Trump administration argued that the benefits of obtaining more accurate citizenship data offset any damage stemming from the likely depressed response to the census by minority groups and noncitizens. And it dismissed charges that the Commerce Department had simply invented a justification for adding the question to the census as unsupported by the evidence.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/us/census-citizenship-question-hofeller.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[jmbar2]

1. Referring to...

Thomas Hofeller, for those who don't subscribe to NYT.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Common Cause's page on this:

https://www.commoncause.org/page/read-the-gops-plan-to-supercharge-gerrymandering-with-a-census-citizenship-question/

Based on this new evidence, it appears that both Neuman and Gore falsely testified about
the genesis of DOJ’s request to Commerce in ways that obscured the pretextual character of the
request. Neuman falsely testified that [redacted] Gore repeatedly testified that he
prepared the initial draft of the DOJ letter, failing to disclose that Neuman gave him a draft of the
DOJ letter in October 2017. Both Neuman and Gore concealed Dr. Hofeller’s role in crafting the
October 2017 draft letter and the VRA enforcement rationale it advanced.
...
1. Mark Neuman, whom Defendants characterized as Ross’s “trusted” “expert adviser”
on census matters, ECF 451, admitted that Dr. Hofeller was the “first person” who suggested
adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census to the transition. Ex. B at 51:15-16. According
to Neuman, Dr. Hofeller advised that adding the question would “maximize[]” representation for
the “Latino community.” Id. at 142:3-18, see id. at 56:15-20. But new evidence obtained in
discovery in a state court lawsuit, Common Cause v. Lewis, No. 18-CVS-14001 (N.C. Super.),
shows that Dr. Hofeller instead knew that adding a citizenship question would have exactly the
opposite effect—it would disadvantage Latinos and benefit “Non-Hispanic Whites.”

https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-05-30-Letter-Motion-dckt-587_0.pdf

[CrispyQ]

3. This is why I no longer respect anyone who identifies with the Republican Party.

They work to limit the vote, to silence the voices of other citizens who they disagree with. That's just un-American.

They are okay with a dictatorship as long as their guy is in charge. They are okay with breaking rule of law as long as it's their side that does it. It always comes down to IOKIYR.

[cstanleytech]

4. If Trump knew about this does this make him criminally liable in any way

for not disclosing it?

[unc70]

5. No surprise that Hofeller lived in Raleigh

We do gerrymandering right around here -- far, far right.

[soryang]

6. Once they have the list on non-citizens they can "cross check" II

And eliminate citizens with similar names from voting at the polls under the pretext that they are not who they say they are.

[swag]

7. Supreme Court has been notified

Link to tweet

[swag]

8. ...to create a structural electoral advantage for 'Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites'

Filed at SCOTUS today:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-966/101439/20190530142417722_2019.05.30%20NYIC%20Respondents%20Notice%20of%20Filing%20--%20Final.pdf


"The petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment in the above-captioned case was granted on February 15, 2019, and the Court heard oral argument on April 23, 2019.

Respondents New York Immigration Coalition, et al., respectfully inform the Court that they filed today the attached motion in the district court for an order to show cause whether sanctions or other appropriate relief are warranted in light of new evidence contradicting the sworn testimony of Secretary Ross’s expert advisor A. Mark Neuman and senior DOJ official John Gore, and representations by Petitioners to the district court, in this case. Ex. 1, NYIC Pls.’ Letter Mot. for an Order to Show Cause, State of New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 18-CV-2921 (S.D.N.Y. May 30, 2019), ECF No. 587. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled in the district court for Wednesday, June 5 at 3:00pm EST.

The new evidence reveals that Dr. Thomas Hofeller, a longtime redistricting specialist, played a significant role in orchestrating the addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 Decennial Census in order to create a structural electoral advantage for, in his own words, “Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites,” and that Petitioners obscured his role through affirmative misrepresentations.

The attached copy of the letter motion, Ex. 1, which was filed publicly with the district court today contains redactions to certain testimony of Mr. Neuman over which Petitioners have asserted deliberative process privilege. An unredacted version of the letter motion is on file with the district court."