Groups challenging Trump order can seek GOP map guru’s files

Civil rights groups challenging President Donald Trump’s order to gather citizenship information can try to get documents belonging to a redistricting guru who favoured excluding noncitizens from population counts to help Republicans.

A federal judge in Maryland said Thursday the civil rights groups can subpoena redistricting documents that belonged to Thomas Hofeller, who died last year.

Earlier this week, House Democrats said a Trump administration adviser was in contact with Hofeller as the adviser drafted a letter to the Census Bureau on behalf of the Department of Justice, asking that a citizenship question be added to the 2020 Census questionnaire.

The Supreme Court rejected the question from being added. Trump then issued the executive order, telling the Census Bureau to gather citizenship information through federal and state administrative records.