AG Barr sees a way for census to legally ask about citizenship

EDGEFIELD, S.C. (AP) — Attorney General William Barr said today he sees a way to legally add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, despite a Supreme Court ruling that blocked its inclusion, at least temporarily.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said the Trump administration will take action in the coming days the believes will allow the government to ask the controversial question. Barr would not detail the administration's plans, though a senior official said President Donald Trump is expected to issue a memorandum to the Commerce Department instructing it to require census respondents to say whether they are citizens.

The Supreme Court's June ruling was a blow to Trump, who has been pressing for the government to ask about citizenship on next year's census. The U.S. Census Bureau's experts have said demanding such information would discourage immigrants from participating in the survey and result in a less accurate census. That in turn would redistribute money and political power away from Democratic-led cities where immigrants tend to cluster to whiter, rural areas where Republicans do well.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president wants to add the demand for citizenship information because he wants to "make America white again."

Barr said he has been in regular contact with Trump over the issue.

"I agree with him that the Supreme Court decision was wrong," said Barr. He said he believes there is "an opportunity potentially to cure the lack of clarity that was the problem and we might as well take a shot at doing that."

The Trump administration has argued the question was being added to aid in enforcing the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters' access to the ballot box.

But Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four more liberal members in last month's Supreme Court decision, saying the administration's justification for the question "seems to have been contrived."

It's unclear what new rationale for asking the question the administration might include in a presidential memorandum.