Trump Official: DOJ Has 'No Position' On Citizenship And Apportionment
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Tierney Sneed | May 18, 2018 10:15 am
John Gore, the Trump Justice Department official who leads the Civil Rights Division, told Congress Friday that the department has “no position” on whether number of citizens should play a role in how congressional districts are apportioned.
He was responding to a question at a House Oversight Committee hearing from Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL), who asked whether knowing the number of citizenships should play a role in apportionment. Gore was behind the Justice Department request to add a citizenship question to a Census
“That’s a very important question. It’s a very important issue. It’s not one that the Department of Justice takes a position on,” Gore said. He added that the request was driven by enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, “not the separate question of how congressional seats are apportioned across the Constitution.”
The Constitution says that U.S. congressional districts should be drawn using total population. But some believe it’s an open question whether states can exclude non-citizens in drawing state legislative districts. Republicans in Missouri are already pushing to put such a requirement on November’s ballot.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/john-gore-doj-no-position-on-citizenship-apportionment
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