In the News

Today, all Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy requesting he issue a subpoena immediately to the Department of Justice for documents it has been withholding relating to its request to the Department of Commerce to add a new citizenship question to the 2020 Decennial Census.

“We are writing to respectfully request that you issue a subpoena to compel the Department of Justice to produce documents relating to its request for a citizenship question to be added to the 2020 Census and the process by which that request was made,” the Democrats wrote. “We ask that you issue this subpoena immediately so Committee Members can have the benefit of reviewing these documents prior to a representative of the Department testifying before our Committee on May 18, 2018.”

On May 1, 2018, all Democratic Members of the Committee sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting documents relating to its sudden request to add a citizenship question to the decennial census. They requested these documents by May 7, 2018, in order to have the opportunity to review them before John Gore, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, was scheduled to testify before the Committee on May 8, 2018.

Gore failed to appear for the hearing on that date, and the Department declined to produce any of the requested documents. Rep. Carolyn Maloney offered a subpoena to compel Gore’s attendance. In response, Chairman Gowdy agreed to recess the hearing until Friday, May 18, 2018, to attempt to obtain Gore’s testimony.

“[T]hese documents are critical to our Committee’s understanding of why the Department of Justice wanted this information and who directed the Department’s request,” the Democrats wrote. “[T]o adequately prepare for the upcoming continuation of the May 8 hearing on May 18, 2018, we request that you issue a subpoena to compel the Department of Justice to produce, by May 17, 2018, all of the documents requested in the letter on May 1, 2018.”

Click here to read today’s letter.