ALA welcomes Supreme Court decision to hold citizenship question from 2020 Census

For Immediate Release
Thu, 06/27/2019

Contact:

Shawnda Hines

Assistant Director, Communications

Public Policy and Advocacy Office

shines@alawash.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Supreme Court today issued a 5-4 ruling in Department of Commerce v. New York, temporarily blocking the Commerce Department from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. In response, ALA President Wanda Brown made the following statement:

“The American Library Association agrees that there is a ‘substantial mismatch’ between the Commerce Secretary’s decision and the rationale he provided for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to at least temporarily block the addition of the question. ALA has consistently opposed the addition of the question on the 2020 census form, as most recently argued in ALA’s amicus curiae brief in this case.

“ALA will continue to work in coalition with civil and human rights organizations to carefully review the implications of the case and actively advocate for a fair, accurate and inclusive census.”

Updated and expanded information about libraries and the census, including ALA’s free Libraries’ Guide to the 2020 Census, is available at ala.org/census.