HARTFORD, CT -- New York state is leading a group of 18 states, 10 cities, four counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors in a lawsuit against the Census Bureau and Commerce Department to try to remove a new citizenship question from the 2020 census questionnaire. It was originally filed April 3, more than a week after California filed a similar lawsuit in San Francisco federal court against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the bureau, and Census Bureau officials. The city of San Jose, Calif., as well as a group of individuals from Maryland and Arizona, have also taken separate legal actions to block the citizenship question.
The states joining New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.