County of Santa Clara Leads Nationwide Coalition Opposing Trump Administration Attempt to Add a Citizenship Question to the Census
Brief Filed in the U.S. Supreme Court Details Harms to Local Jurisdictions if Unlawful Question is Permitted
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF. – Yesterday, the County of Santa Clara led a nationwide coalition of local jurisdictions in the U.S. Supreme Court fighting the Trump Administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Decennial Census. Together with the City of Los Angeles, the National League of Cities, and nine other local jurisdictions, the County filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to bar the Administration’s attempt to undermine the accuracy of the Census by including the proposed citizenship question.
“The County of Santa Clara believes that our diversity is our strength,” said Supervisor Dave Cortese. “The Administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question is part and parcel of its efforts to promote fear and distrust of government in our immigrant communities. We will fight these efforts every step of the way.”
“Including a citizenship question on the 2020 Census would cause the County to lose vital federal funding and would endanger the health and safety of everyone in the County,” said Supervisor Susan Ellenberg. “We will fight to protect our residents while ensuring we count every person so that the County gets the resources its residents’ deserve.”
“Once again, the Trump Administration has ignored the law to pursue its divisive agenda,” said Santa Clara County Counsel James R. Williams. “The proposed citizenship question was forced through against the recommendations of the experts in the Census Bureau, and it flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of an accurate census. As two courts have already held, the Administration’s attempt to include it is plainly unlawful.”
The County’s brief describes the significant harm that a citizenship question would cause to residents of local jurisdictions across the country. As the brief details, the Census Bureau itself acknowledges that the question would cause a severe undercount of residents, undermining the County’s efforts to save lives and slow the spread of disease in emergency situations. The undercount would also significantly reduce the County’s federal funding, with no actual reduction in the population or the need for services. The undercount also threatens residents’ political rights by preventing governments from drawing accurate lines for political districts.
The brief also discusses the U.S. Constitution’s Enumeration Clause, which requires an accurate census that counts everyone. The Census Bureau’s own professionals admit that the citizenship question would undermine this critical constitutional requirement. It would do this by intimidating communities across the country into not responding to the census at all. As a result, the brief argues, the question is both unlawful and a source of real and immediate harm to communities across the country.
The brief is available here.
About the County of Santa Clara’s Census Efforts
The County of Santa Clara is pursuing aggressive action to ensure a complete, accurate, and fair 2020 Census, including litigation, programmatic, and policy efforts. For example, Board of Supervisors approved an unprecedented $1 million to launch the 2018 Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) effort, one of the most significant opportunities for the County of Santa Clara to ensure that every county household is on the Census Bureau’s address list to be officially counted. This is the first phase of the County’s multi-year campaign to “get out the count” for the 2020 Census.
About the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office
The County Counsel serves as legal counsel to the County, its Board of Supervisors and elected officials, every County department and agency, and the County’s boards and commissions. With a staff of 190 employees, including over 90 attorneys, the Office of the County Counsel is also responsible for all civil litigation involving the County and its officers. Through its Social Justice and Impact Litigation Section, the Office litigates high-impact cases, drafts innovative local ordinances, and develops policies and programs to advance social and economic justice.
About the County of Santa Clara, California
The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents. With a $7 billion annual budget, dozens of offices/departments, and over 20,000 employees, the County provides essential services to its residents, including public health protection, environmental stewardship, medical services through Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, park services, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and many others, particularly for those in the greatest need. The County is the most populous in Northern California.
Media Contact: Laurel Anderson/Marina Hinestrosa, Office of Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119.