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U.S. NEWS Friday 31 May 2019

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Lawyers: Docs show census changed to give Republicans edge

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and ments found after Hofeller’s
MARK SHERMAN death last year revealed
Associated Press the administration’s “goal
NEW YORK (AP) — A Re- was to dilute the voting
publican redistricting ex- power of minority com-
pert advocated for add- munities. That’s literally the
ing a citizenship question diametric opposite of what
to the 2020 census to give the administration has
an electoral edge to white been saying all along.”
people and Republicans, Furman gave the Justice
opponents of the move al- Department until Monday
leged in a court filing Thurs- to respond. An official with
day. the department declined
The filing in Manhattan to comment on the record.
federal court said a trove Furman set a hearing in the
of newly discovered docu- case for June 5.
ments revealed that Thom- The Hofeller documents cit-
as Hofeller, a longtime Re- ed by lawyers were discov-
publican gerrymandering ered when his estranged
guru, played a key role in daughter found four exter-
pushing the Trump adminis- nal computer hard drives
tration to include a citizen- and 18 thumb drives in her
ship question on the census father’s Raleigh, North Car-
for the first time since 1950. In this April 23, 2019 file photo, immigration activists rally outside the Supreme Court as the justices olina, home after his death
Lawyers for opponents of hear arguments over the Trump administration’s plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, last summer.
adding the question said in Washington. Associated Press The New York Times re-
the files, found on Hofell- spring 2018, seems poised suppress the count of im- the question. They asked ported that she contacted
er’s computer drives af- for approval by the U.S. Su- migrants and strengthen U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Common Cause, which
ter he died last year, also preme Court, which heard congressional representa- Furman to issue sanctions had recently sued in state
showed that he contrib- arguments in April and is tion and funding for areas or consider finding individu- court to challenge North
uted vital language to a likely to rule by July. It’s where mostly Republicans als in contempt. Carolina’s legislative dis-
Justice Department letter not yet clear if the Hofeller reside. States with large Ho, of the ACLU, said docu- tricts, which had been
used to justify the question documents might affect numbers of immigrants drawn by Hofeller.q
on the grounds that it was the pending case, though tend to vote Democratic.
needed to protect minority the American Civil Liberties Lawyers for President Don-
voting rights. Union apprised the high ald Trump’s administration
In reality, the lawyers ar- court of the latest develop- say the commerce secre-
gued, the documents ments Thursday in a letter tary has wide discretion to
show the census change is signed by Dale Ho, director design the census ques-
part of a wider Republican of the group’s voting rights tionnaire.
effort to restrict the political project and a lawyer who On Thursday, lawyers for
power of Democrats and argued against adding the groups including the ACLU
Latino communities. question before the top said that the files show that
“The new evidence reveals court. a Justice Department offi-
that Dr. Thomas Hofeller, States, cities and rights cial and a transition official
the longtime Republican groups had sued in New for President Donald Trump
redistricting specialist, York and elsewhere, argu- testified falsely by hiding
played a significant role ing that the question would Hofeller’s role in asking for
in orchestrating the addi-
tion of the citizenship ques-
tion to the 2020 Decennial CAR RENTAL 5616944
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a structural electoral ad-
vantage for, in his own We Rent:
words, ‘Republicans and Cars- Vans - SUV
Non-Hispanic Whites,’ and
that defendants obscured
his role through affirmative
misrepresentations,” the fil-
ing said.
The change, announced in