A coalition of 20 states and 15 cities and counties filed suit Friday to block President Donald Trump's memo directing undocumented immigrants be excluded from the 2020 census count for purposes of deciding how many members of Congress are apportioned to each state, calling it "unlawful."
The suit, filed in New York federal court, charges that Trump's directive shows "blatant disregard of an unambiguous constitutional command" — the 14th Amendment's directive that “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State."
"For 150 years — since the United States recognized the whole personhood of those formerly bound in slavery — the unambiguous requirement that all persons be counted for apportionment purposes, regardless of immigration status, has been respected by every executive official, every cabinet officer, and every President. Until now," the suit said.
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