MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A federal district court ruling late Wednesday allows the State of Alabama to proceed with a lawsuit against the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Just over year ago, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and U.S. Representative Mo Brooks filed a lawsuit arguing against the inclusion of illegal aliens in the final census count for purposes of determining Congressional apportionment, which would likely cost Alabama a Congressional seat and a vote on the Electoral College. The Census Bureau is part of the Department of Commerce.
“I am grateful that the U.S. District Court has agreed with us and denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss our census lawsuit,” Marshall said in a release today. “Alabama will continue to make its case that the Constitution and federal law require that each state’s share of federal political power in Congress be apportioned based on the number of people who are lawfully present in the United States and that illegal aliens must not be included in that calculation.”
Judge R. David Proctor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the State of Alabama and Brooks, as plaintiffs, have adequately alleged that they will be harmed by the inclusion of illegal aliens in the census.
The court’s decision means that Alabama’s lawsuit will continue.
