Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Rooted in the dreams of immigrants and inspired by the promise of opportunity, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) advocates for an America in which all Americans can benefit equally from, and contribute to, the American dream. Our mission is to advance the civil and human rights for Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all. AAJC is the voice for the Asian American community – the fastest-growing population in the U.S. – fighting for our civil rights through education, litigation, and public policy advocacy.
THE CASE
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La Union Del Pueblo Entero v. Ross (D.Md.). On September 13, 2019, AAJC with co-counsel filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan to collect and provide incomplete citizenship data to the states for purposes of redistricting as an unconstitutional and racially discriminatory scheme intended to deprive Latinos, Asians, and non-citizens of equal representation.
On July 21, 2020, after issuance of the Presidential Memorandum excluding undocumented individuals from the apportionment base, the court granted Plaintiffs’ motion to amend the complaint.
On August 4, 2020, the government announced their continued efforts to ensure minorities are undercounted and underrepresented by ending field collection of data for the decennial census one month early on September 30, 2020. Accordingly, Plaintiffs sought declaratory, injunctive, and mandamus relief to prevent the government from carrying out its unlawful and racially discriminatory plans.
CASE UPDATES SINCE GRANT YEAR
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The case was dismissed without prejudice following executive actions taken by the Biden administration. In light of litigation in this case and those brought by other organizations, President Biden issued an Executive Order rescinding both Executive Order 13880 of July 11, 2019 (Collecting Information About Citizenship Status in Connection with the Decennial Census) and the Presidential Memorandum of July 21, 2020 (Excluding Illegal Aliens From the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census). The Census Bureau then terminated producing a Post-2020 Census Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) Special Tabulation. Public representations and assurances were made that appropriate measures would be adopted by the Census Bureau during post data collection processing to ensure data quality of the census count. The Census Bureau has since released redistricting data on August 12, 2021, in “legacy” format and on September 16, 2021, in a more user-friendly format. These data are now being used in redistricting by states. Our case had a very positive outcome. We thank the Barbara McDowell Foundation for its generous support.
GRANT AMOUNT
$50,000 (2021)