Latino voter group files lawsuit over Alabama claim on census
Source: Washington Post
A civil rights organization representing Latino voters filed a lawsuit against the government Tuesday night seeking to prevent it from leaving undocumented people out of congressional apportionment after the 2020 Census.
In the suit filed against the Commerce Department, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and the Census Bureau, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) asked a federal judge in Alabama to declare that apportionment must be determined by the total population, as has been longstanding practice.
The state of Alabama filed a suit last year against the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau, arguing that the current system of apportioning congressional seats gives an unfair electoral advantage to states with more undocumented immigrants.
Several states, cities, counties, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, along with the Latino voters, had requested to join the case as intervenors, saying they feared the Justice Department would not defend the Alabama suit wholeheartedly. Although constitutional scholars have said the Alabama suit is unlikely to succeed, intervenors said they were concerned particularly after a July comment by U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr in which he seemed to suggest the Alabama case might succeed.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/latino-voter-group-files-lawsuit-over-alabama-claim-on-census/2019/10/01/63884b36-e4c2-11e9-a6e8-8759c5c7f608_story.html
