Thread by @ZoeTillman

Per White House pool, Trump said he's "thinking of" using executive order to get the citizenship Q on the 2020 Census.

By 2pm, DOJ has to file a notice either confirming they're dropping the Q or giving a proposed sched for next steps if they're not, see: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Just in: The judge in SDNY census citizenship Q is going to hold off scheduling a hearing for now, citing the 2pm update deadline in the Maryland case and DOJ's representation that they'll notify the court "immediately" if circumstances change

NOW: DOJ filed a report on the census citizenship Q, and it's not definitive — they repeat they've been asked to "reevaluate all available options" and if the admin adopts a "new rationale" to try again, they'll alert the court assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6183…

If the Commerce Sec. adopts a "new rationale" for adding the question, that would be a new final agency action, and DOJ says the groups that sued before would be entitled to challenge it

What does this mean at this very moment? The lower court injunctions blocking the citizenship Q remain in place, and the Census Bureau is going ahead with pritning the forms without it

*printing, sigh

But there's more: Recall the MD judge said he'd reassess the equal protection/civil rights claims re: newly found Hofeller files. The plaintiffs want to move ahead with that now and not wait for the admin to decide whether to adopt a new rationale. Filing: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6183…

DOJ, in its status report, disagrees with going ahead with discovery now on the equal protection/civil rights claims, saying it'd be "premature" and "extremely inefficient" to do so before the admin decides what it wants to do (here's that filing again: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6183…)

What's missing from DOJ's status report: Any sort of timeline for the admin's review of whether to adopt a "new rationale" for the citizenship Q after SCOTUS found the old reason "contrived." A 25-day clock has been ticking since the SCOTUS decision on 6/27 to ask for a rehearing

Notably no mention of a possible executive order or the "four or five ways" that Trump suggested might be on the table, per pool report earlier today

Spoke with Thomas Saenz of MALDEF, who underscored their arg for going ahead now with litigation on the equal protection/civil rights claims: "You don't get to hide from the true motivation by many, many months later putting up something that is going to be equally pretextual."

UPDATE: The judge in the Maryland census citizenship Q case has ordered discovery to go ahead now on the equal protection/civil rights claims, over the Justice Dept's request to delay it pending a decision by the admin on whether to come up with a "new rationale"

Judge Hazel: "Regardless of the justification Defendants may now find for a “new” decision, discovery related to the origins of the question will remain relevant."

NEW in the census citizenship Q fight: The plaintiffs in SDNY have asked the court for an order blocking the Trump admin from trying to add the question going forward, in light of the 6/30 questionnaire printing deadline established by the govt assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6183…

ACLU et al.: "Defendants’ perpetuation of uncertainty over the status of the questionnaire is unacceptable: by their own admission, this delay is imperiling the Defendants’ ability to conduct the 2020 census" assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6183…

The judge set a relatively quick briefing schedule on this latest motion out of SDNY, and will hear arguments on July 23