SAN DIEGO, CA — Today, the Supreme Court ruled to temporarily strike the Trump Administration’s addition of a question regarding citizenship from the 2020 Census. With a 5-4 vote, The Supreme Court’s ruling invalidated the administration’s justification for adding the question citing the official explanation “seems to have been contrived.” 

This ruling comes after the news that the citizenship question was meant to suppress the voter count, and rig the census for partisan gain, evidenced by documents filed in May by Common Cause in a lower court. 

Today’s ruling is a much-needed step in the right direction for San Diego in particular, as the county is already at risk of being undercounted in the upcoming census. According to an analysis by the Public Policy Institute of California, San Diego county has some of the hardest communities to reach in the state.

An undercount could mean less political representation in Congress as well as less funds for key programs — from schools or nutrition programs to health or housing that benefit our communities. As part of the Count Me 2020 Coalition, Alliance San Diego is working with United Way of San Diego County and more than one hundred other community-based organizations to make sure that everyone is counted in the 2020 Census in San Diego and Imperial Counties, especially in the hard-to-count communities.

Christopher R. Wilson, Associate Director of Alliance San Diego, issued the following statement: 

“We applaud the court’s decision to strike the citizenship question, which was blatantly discriminatory, and would have harmed vulnerable communities — specifically immigrants and communities of color. Even in light of this decision, however, we know the stakes to ensure a fair count in San Diego are extremely high. San Diego county is one of the hardest to count in the state, and even with this harmful question removed from the census, there are still challenges to making sure every San Diegan is counted. We will continue to work with our partners to make sure everyone in San Diego is counted, ensuring we’re allotted the resources that we need and the political representation we deserve.”

About Alliance San Diego

Alliance San Diego is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) community empowerment organization working to ensure that all people can achieve their full potential in an environment of harmony, safety, equality, and justice. Our mission is to provide a means for diverse individuals and organizations to share information, collaborate on issues and mobilize for change in the pursuit of social justice, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. We pursue this mission through targeted civic engagement programs and strategic coalitions that focus on specific issues and policy reforms.

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