A lawsuit filed by the state of Alabama against several federal departments has been allowed to proceed after a federal district court denied a federal government motion to drop the case.
Attorney General Marshall and U.S. Rep. Brook filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Census Bureau in May 2018, arguing against the inclusion of undocumented immigrants in the final census count for purposes of determining Congressional apportionment, as this could potentially cost Alabama an electoral college vote and a congressional seat.
The lawsuit argues that another state could gain a congressional seat from Alabama if the Census includes people who are living in the United States illegally.
Judge R. David Proctor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the plaintiffs in the case, the State of Alabama and U.S. Representative Mo Brooks, adequately alleged that they will be harmed by the inclusion of illegal aliens in the census.
“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. “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.”
