吃瓜大本营

NEW YORK 鈥� President Trump said he is giving up his bid to add a citizenship question to the census. He had initially threatened to defy a Supreme Court ruling that blocked it. His announcement today was made just hours after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened additional legal action.

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU鈥檚 Voting Rights Project, who argued the Supreme Court case, said:

鈥淭rump鈥檚 attempt to weaponize the census ends not with a bang but a whimper.

鈥淗e lost in the Supreme Court, which saw through his lie about needing the question for the Voting Rights Act. It is clear he simply wanted to sow fear in immigrant communities and turbocharge Republican gerrymandering efforts by diluting the political influence of Latino communities.

"He then tried a mulligan, but his keystone cops couldn鈥檛 settle on a new rationale for the question; they couldn鈥檛 even figure out how to swap out legal teams. Now he鈥檚 backing down and taking the option that he rejected more than a year ago. Trump may claim victory today, but this is nothing short of a total, humiliating defeat for him and his administration.

鈥淲hen the details of Trump鈥檚 new plan to compile citizenship data outside of the census come out 鈥攁nd his plans for using that data 鈥� we will scrutinize them closely and assess their legality.鈥�

The ACLU, New York Civil Liberties Union, and Arnold & Porter had successfully challenged the administration in court on behalf of immigrants鈥� rights groups.

Case details: