For those who agreed that this SCOTUS decision would be interesting, CNN is reporting that Ross has escaped the net of the ACLU and allied states:
The Supreme Court blocked a deposition of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday in a case challenging the decision to reinstate a citizenship question on the 2020 census.
The action is a partial victory for the Trump administration that argued such a deposition of a cabinet official is “rarely, if ever justified.” The court did, however, allow the deposition of a top Department of Justice official in the case, acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division, as well as other discovery to proceed at least for now.
Very sadly, there’s not much to munch on here:
It took five justices to grant the government’s request. There was no recorded vote attached to Monday night’s unsigned order.
The Justice Department hailed the Supreme Court’s decision, calling it a “win for protecting the rights of the Executive Branch.”
“The intrusive and improper discovery in this case disrupts the orderly functioning of our government and is, as Justices Gorsuch and Thomas noted, ‘highly unusual,'” the department’s statement continued. “The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the rule of law and looks forward to further proceedings before the Supreme Court.”
For all we know, it was 9-0. CNN notes AG Sessions didn’t think much of the lower court requirement that Ross be deposed:
“But the census question — which has appeared in one form or another on the census for over a hundred years — is either legal or illegal. The words on the page don’t have a motive; they are either permitted or they are not,” Sessions said. “But the judge has decided to hold a trial over the inner workings of a cabinet secretary’s mind.”
Sounds like typical partisan kant to me.
