While a trial over the Trump administration’s addition of a census citizenship question is underway, the Supreme Court has asked the parties involved to filing briefings on the Justice Department’s request to limit the evidence considered in the case.
The Justice Department had previously failed in getting the Supreme Court to delay the trial, which started Monday in Manhattan. The Trump administration was successful in convincing the high court to halt plans to depose Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose decision it was to add the question. However, the Supreme Court did allow a top Justice Department official be deposed and also allowed a judge’s order for additional discovery tp move forward, despite DOJ requests that those be blocked as well.
The Supreme Court is now considering the Justice Department’s petition to resolve whether a “a district court may order discovery outside the administrative record to probe the mental processes of the agency decisionmaker.”
When announcing the addition of the citizenship question, Ross said that it was added to respond to a request from the Justice Department for Voting Rights Act enforcement. Internal records and depositions that have been made public in the litigation have undermined that account.
Internal records and depositions that have been made public in the litigation have undermined that account.\
Rare to have the court intervene once the trial has started. The question whether evidence should have been limited can be decided on appeal. What harm is the DOJ alleging will occur if the evidence is released now?
“Undermined” is a really polite word for it. The original account has been exposed as utterly dishonest.
But yeah, I do wonder about why the supremes want to be briefed now. It does suggest they are going to intervene in some unprecedented way.
Yeah, SCOTUS, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Guardians Of Predators, wants to be “briefed” because limiting evidence when the government is on trial is always such a great idea.
Ideally, the DOJ will have evidence limited to testimony by its hand-picked census experts Dr. Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller.
Any idiot can see these machinations to thwart a fair hearing (AKA justice) from a mile away. Bastards.
I suppose the House will haul him up for a hearing if the Dems will.