House votes to hold Attorney General Barr, Commerce Secretary Ross in contempt for failing to comply [View all]
Source: Washington Post
The House on Wednesday voted to hold Attorney General William P. Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt for failing to provide documents related to the Trump administration's efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, escalating the fight between Democrats and the White House over congressional oversight. The 230-to-198 vote along party lines came one day after the House approved a resolution condemning President Trump's racist remarks aimed at four minority congresswomen.
After a string of legal defeats, Trump last week abruptly retreated from his efforts to add the question to the census, announcing that he will instead order federal agencies to provide the Commerce Department with records on the numbers of citizens and noncitizens in the country. But lawmakers continue to demand answers about the motivations behind the administration's 19-month effort to ask about citizenship status on the decennial survey. In May, new evidence emerged suggesting that the question was crafted specifically to give an electoral advantage to Republicans and whites. The Trump administration has said it needs the information to better enforce the Voting Rights Act.
Barr and Ross wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) earlier Wednesday saying they "strongly oppose" the resolution and asked her to postpone the vote so they could continue working through a legally mandated process toward a compromise. "By taking this action, the House is both unnecessarily undermining inter-branch comity and degrading the constitutional separation of powers and its own institutional integrity," the two Cabinet members wrote.
The impact of the contempt vote is largely symbolic. Those found in criminal contempt are normally referred to the Justice Department for prosecution; in this instance, the Justice Department would not prosecute itself.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-to-vote-to-hold-barr-ross-in-contempt-over-2020-census-citizenship-question/2019/07/17/8dbeb35c-a89c-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html
Full headline: House votes to hold Attorney General Barr, Commerce Secretary Ross in contempt for failing to comply with subpoena on 2020 Census
Original article -
July 17 at 6:25 PM
BREAKING: House votes to hold Attorney General Barr, Commerce Secretary Ross in contempt for failing to comply with subpoena on 2020 Census
The House Oversight Committee had sought documents from Attorney General William P. Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on the Trump administration's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
While the House-passed resolution holds the men in criminal contempt, it's unlikely the Justice Department would take action against Barr and Ross.
This story will be updated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-to-vote-to-hold-barr-ross-in-contempt-over-2020-census-citizenship-question/2019/07/17/8dbeb35c-a89c-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html?utm_term=.0b1c9c2e21f0
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