Akin Gump Provides Pro Bono Support in Amicus Brief Challenging 2020 Census Citizenship Question

(New York) – Akin Gump is serving as pro bono counsel to an amicus curiae group in filing a brief supporting the challengers in the ongoing 2020 census citizenship question litigation, New York Immigration Coalition v. United States Department of Commerce. The amici include the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, New York (CAIR-NY). Also among the amici are four American citizens of Japanese descent whose incarceration during World War II was partly due to the Census Bureau’s cooperation and sharing of data with the War Department.

In the brief filed today, the amici argue that the district court can and should meaningfully review the Census Bureau’s addition of the citizenship question to determine whether it violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. The amici remind the court in the brief that absolute deference to the political branches has permitted historical abuses of both individual and group-level census information. Further, they argue that the government’s insistence on such deference relies on a novel, untenable distinction between constitutionally mandated enumeration and the manner of that enumeration. History, they argue, shows that the form of the census can meaningfully stunt the quality of its enumeration results. 

Robert H. Pees, an Akin Gump litigation partner who serves as lead pro bono counsel in this matter, said, “This court should exercise its constitutionally mandated role to subject the executive branch’s actions to meaningful judicial review under the Equal Protection Clause.”

Other members of the Akin Gump team working on the brief include corporate partner Alice Hsu; litigation counsel Martine E. Cicconi and associate Bailey A. Pepe; labor and employment associate Geoffrey J. Derrick; and corporate associate Elizabeth G. Atkins.

The amicus brief filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is available by clicking here.

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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