Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Census Citizenship Question

April 22, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in a case challenging the addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 Census. EPIC filed an amicus brief in Department of Commerce v. New York, urging the Court to uphold a New York federal judge's decision to remove the question. EPIC warned that the "extraordinary reach of the Bureau into the private lives of Americans brings extraordinary risks to privacy." In a related matter, EPIC's lawsuit to block the citizenship question, EPIC v. Commerce, is currently before the D.C. Circuit with an argument scheduled for May 8. EPIC has charged that the Census Bureau failed to complete required Privacy Impact Assessments prior to the decisions to collect personal data about citizenship. The Bureau concedes that it must complete the impact assessments but has so far failed to do so. EPIC told the D.C. Circuit, "Key deadlines are fast approaching, and major privacy risks have not been addressed by the agency."

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