Senate Vote Halts Damaging Amendment to the Census

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s premier civil and human rights coalition released the following statement on today’s Senate cloture vote of 60-39 on the Commerce-State-Justice Appropriations bill, laying the foundation for rejecting the divisive Vitter-Bennett amendment:

“The civil rights community won an important battle today in the fight for a fair and accurate 2010 census that counts every person in the United States as required by the U.S. Constitution.

By voting today for cloture on the Commerce-State-Justice Appropriations bill, the Senate effectively ended debate on the divisive Vitter-Bennett amendment. The amendment, which would have forced the Census Bureau to add questions on citizenship and immigration status to the census form less than six months before the count, is clearly unconstitutional. Under the 14th amendment to the Constitution, the apportionment of members of the House of Representatives is based on a full count of persons – not just citizens – in each state.

We commend the Senate for standing up for the Constitution and for sparing the nation from the damage the amendment would have done to the census and to the civil rights of millions of people – both native-born and immigrant – who would have been discouraged from being counted had the amendment passed. We also hope that today’s vote sends a strong message that the Senate is committed to a 2010 census in which every person counts and every person is counted.”