New York • The Justice Department can’t replace nine lawyers so late in the dispute over whether to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census without explaining why they are doing so, a judge said Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman, who earlier this year ruled against adding the citizenship question, put the brakes on the government’s plans a day after he was given a three-paragraph notification by the Justice Department along with a prediction that the replacement of lawyers won’t “cause any disruption in this matter.”
"Defendants provide no reasons, let alone 'satisfactory reasons,' for the substitution of counsel," Furman wrote, noting that the most immediate deadline for government lawyers to submit written arguments in the case is only three days away.