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By Sam Howard, UPI
A federal judge in New York denied a request from the Trump administration to delay an upcoming trial over whether it can ask about an individual's citizenship status in the 2020 Census.
District Court Judge Jesse Furman, of the Southern District of New York, said "time is of the essence," adding that there is an "urgent" need to reach a conclusion on whether the U.S. Census Bureau can ask respondents in the 2020 Census about their citizenship status.
A group of states and the American Civil Liberties Union have sued the federal government over their plans to ask about citizenship status, saying it is an intimidation tactic to discourage immigrants from responding. However, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said censuses have asked about citizenship in some form for more than 100 years.
The trial is scheduled to start Nov. 5, but in his decision, Furman wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court may eventually get involved.
"At bottom, defendants are seeking a preemptive ruling from the Supreme Court on a decision that this Court has not yet even made - namely, what evidence the Court may consider in ruling on the merits -- thereby seeking to disrupt the appropriate relationship between the respective courts,'" he said.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that effectively shielded Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from being deposed in the case.
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