NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2019 – New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement after New York and the 26-member coalition it is leading were granted the right to intervene as defendants in the Alabama census case:
“We are intervening in this case because the federal government is failing its obligation to represent the American people, and this lawsuit deserves a robust defense. We will continue to fight to ensure that every person residing in this country is counted — just as the framers intended. Despite the Trump Administration’s attempts to tip the balance of power in the nation and Alabama’s endeavor to continue down that path, we will never stop fighting for a full and accurate count.”
Last month, New York led a 26-member coalition — including 15 states, the District of Columbia, three counties, six cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors — in opposing the State of Alabama’s attempt to advance a discriminatory agenda and tilt the power within Congress and the Electoral College by refusing to count every individual in the 2020 decennial census. While the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as their respective leaders, have been named as defendants in the case, the State of New York moved to intervene as a defendant in the federal case of Alabama v. U.S. Department of Commerce, in the Northern District of Alabama, to ensure the case is properly presented and that every resident in America — irrespective of citizenship status — is counted in the decennial census.