However, in his ruling, Seeborg wrote that Ross’ reliance on Voting Rights Act enforcement to justify inclusion of the citizenship question was “mere pretext and the definition of an arbitrary and capricious governmental act.” Even though a citizenship question had been included in the decennial census in 1950 and before, Seeborg wrote that its inclusion now — amid the national debate over immigration — would interfere with the actual count.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 06, 2019 20:55 UTC