Trump Citizenship Question Goes on Trial on Eve of Crucial Vote
- Query on census comes before judge a day ahead of midterms
- Outcome of case could help reshape political map for a decade
Pedestrians and shoppers walk in New York.
Photographer: Stephanie Keith/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A trial over the Trump administration’s use of a citizenship question on the next U.S. census for the first time in 70 years gets under way Monday in Manhattan, with dozens of states and cities arguing the move is a bald power grab.
The trial, starting the day before a momentous midterm election, could help rewrite the nation’s political map for a decade. Census results are used to apportion seats in Congress and divvy up the Electoral College votes that pick the president. The data are also used to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars a year in federal aid to states and localities.