The census can't ask if you're an American citizen, a federal judge rules

The Trump administration can't add a question of citizenship to the 2020 census, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross tried last year to add a question asking if the census-takers were "a citizen of the United States." But after civil rights groups argued the question would suppress census response rates and lead to undercounts, U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman decided in their favor, per NPR.

Ross announced the question addition last year, saying it would help enforce the Voting Rights Act. The ACLU and attorneys general from several states countered, claiming in a handful of lawsuits that undocumented people would avoid answering the census out of fear. This would in turn suppress congressional representation in immigrant-heavy areas — something Furman agreed to in his 277-page ruling.

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A question of citizenship status — something that hasn't been asked on a census since 1950 — has long been controversial on several fronts. Beyond the argument addressed in the lawsuits, Ross originally told Congress that the Department of Justice had proposed the citizenship questions. A memo later showed Ross had come up with the idea.

The citizenship question is still facing five more lawsuits across the country, NPR notes. The DOJ will likely appeal Tuesday's ruling to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and perhaps the Supreme Court. The question of what evidence can be brought up during these ongoing trials has already moved to the high court.