ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL INTERVENES IN CENSUS CHALLENGE

Raoul & Coalition Intervene as Defendants in Alabama Census Case to Ensure Electoral College Count Is Not Distorted

Chicago — Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 15 states, along with several counties, cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors today opposed the state of Alabama’s attempt to advance a discriminatory agenda and tilt the power within Congress and the Electoral College by refusing to count every individual in the 2020 census.

While the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as their respective leaders, have been named as defendants in the case, Illinois moved to intervene as a defendant in the federal case of “Alabama v. U.S. Department of Commerce,” in the Northern District of Alabama, to ensure the case is properly defended and that every resident is counted.

“The Constitution requires the federal government to conduct a count of every person in this country, regardless of citizenship status, every ten years,” Raoul said. “An accurate census count ensures that each state receives fair representation in Congress, the proper number of Electoral College votes, and its fair share of federal funding, which are fundamental to our democracy. I am committed to fighting unconstitutional efforts to undermine the integrity of the census and election process.”

Raoul and the coalition are seeking to intervene as defendants in the lawsuit in an effort to protect the constitutional mandate that requires the U.S. Census Bureau to count every resident of the United States, as well as defend the century-old Census Bureau precedent of counting “all persons” in the United States for the purposes of apportionment, regardless of immigration status.

In May 2018, the state of Alabama and an Alabama congressman filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Census Bureau’s long-standing policy of including all individuals, including non-citizens, in the census. The census count is used to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding and to determine the number of representatives each state receives in the U.S. House of Representatives, which subsequently determines the number of Electoral College votes each state receives in a presidential election.

Joining Raoul in filing the motion to intervene are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. Additionally, Monterey County in California; Hidalgo and Cameron counties in Texas; New York, N.Y.; Central Falls, R.I.; Chicago, Ill.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Providence, R.I.; Seattle, Wash., as well as the U.S. Conference of Mayors have joined in the motion to intervene as defendants in the suit.

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