Following reports that Secretary Wilbur Ross misled Congress about the decision to include a question concerning citizenship in the upcoming 2020 Census, Restore Public Trust, a public interest watchdog, filed suit in federal court to force the disclosure of documents related to that decision.

The suit comes after Secretary Ross has avoided testifying to Congress multiple times and weeks before the final census forms are sent to press.

“The American people have a right to know what Secretary Ross and the rest of Trump’s political appointees discussed behind closed doors as they devised a scheme to make the census less representative for all Americans,” said Kyle Herrig, Senior Advisor to Restore Public Trust. “Even more disturbing than Secretary Ross’s attempts to avoid public scrutiny is his apparent lies to Congress and evasion of Congressional oversight.”

CNN reported last fall that a Justice Department filing raised questions about Secretary Ross’s testimony to Congress months before. In addition, someone who met with Wilbur Ross about the Census claimed that Ross mischaracterized her views regarding the citizenship question in a memo.

RPT submitted multiple records requests from Commerce regarding the matter with no response.

See the lawsuit at this link.