National Faith Leader Applauds Court’s Decision to Strike Down Census Citizenship Question

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2019

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MEDIA CONTACT

Michelle Nealy, mnealy@faithinpubliclife.org, (202) 735-7123

Mackenzie Harris, mharris@faithinpubliclife.org, (610)283-8879

National Faith Leader Applauds Court’s Decision to Strike Down Census Citizenship Question

Washington, D.C. — A federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Experts have argued that this question was unnecessary, discriminatory and would reduce the number of people responding to the census.

Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO, Faith in Public Life:

“I’m deeply grateful for Judge Furman’s decision to strike down the unjust and discriminatory citizenship question in the 2020 Census. This question would intentionally cause black, Latino, Native, Asian, immigrant, poor and rural communities to be substantially undercounted. We must ensure that everyone is counted so that our local schools, roads and hospitals get their fair share of funding and communities receive fair political representation at all levels of government. All of our faith traditions teach us about the dignity and value of every human being: everyone counts. Judge Furman’s ruling will help the government live out this value.”

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Faith in Public Life is a national network of nearly 50,000 clergy and faith leaders united in the prophetic pursuit of justice and the common good.