WASHINGTON — Restore Public Trust released the following statement today after the House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas on their attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

“Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross are not above the law,” said Lizzy Price, spokesperson for Restore Public Trust. “We entrust public officials to uphold the values and integrity of our nation, which includes complying with congressional subpoenas and telling the truth about their attempts to add a politically motivated question to the 2020 Census. There is clear evidence showing the Trump administration plans to adversely target Latinos using the 2020 Census and Americans deserve to know the full extent of their scheme to manipulate Census data to their political advantage.”

“It is shameful that Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross continue to obstruct such an important investigation. It’s up to Congress to expose the extent to which administration officials are willing to disenfranchise the Latinx community for their own political gain, or for more nefarious reasons.”

“We applaud Congress for taking meaningful action to hold Barr and Ross accountable.”

The vote comes after weeks of the Trump administration reversing course on the issue following the Supreme Court dealing them a major setback and the DOJ indicating it would begin printing the Census without the controversial question.

This vote comes just weeks after Restore Public Trust filed a lawsuit against Secretary Ross for refusing to fulfill several public records requests, and on the heels of The New York Times reporting that reveals the administration worked with an expert on Republican gerrymandering to draft the citizenship question.