It looks like the Justice Department will be bugging the Supreme Court yet again.
An appeals court on Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s latest request to delay the proceedings in the Census citizenship case, where the trial wrapped up last week.
“Upon due consideration, and substantially for the reasons set forth in the District Court’s brief opinion denying the motion before it, it is hereby ORDERED that the motions for a stay before this Court are DENIED,” the order said.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman on Tuesday wrote a fiery order rejecting the request for the delay, which was the 12th time the Justice Department had asked for a delay in the proceedings in the litigation in New York.
The Justice Department pointed to the Supreme Court’s most recent move last Friday to schedule arguments on a discovery issue in the case as for reasons delaying the post-trial proceeding, including Furman’s final judgement.
The appeals court had previously rejected the delay request as premature when the Justice Department had filed it with the court while Furman was still considering the initial motion.
The Justice Department told Furman it’s willing to go to the Supreme Court with its delay request.
The case is a consolidation of lawsuits filed in Manhattan by a multi-state coalition and by the ACLU. They are suing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross over his move to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census, which they say will depress the participation of immigrants on the decennial survey, resulting in an undercount that shifts political power and funding away from those communities.
Read the appeals court order below: