NEW YORK ¨C The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request by President Donald Trump¡¯s administration to halt a trial set to begin on Monday that will test the legality of the government¡¯s contentious decision to ask people taking part in the 2020 national census whether they are citizens.
The justices announced the action in a one-sentence order. Three conservative justices ¡ª Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch ¡ª said they would have granted the request for an indefinite postponement of the trial. Trump¡¯s new appointee to the nine-member court, Brett Kavanaugh, did not state publicly how he voted on the matter.
The decision benefits the 18 states challenging the census citizenship question in part because such a postponement could have made it impossible to resolve the dispute before census forms are printed starting next year.
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