MALDEF STATEMENT ON AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION’S ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION SUPPORTING COMPLETE APPORTIONMENT COUNT

LOS ANGELES –  The American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates yesterday approved a resolution urging federal agencies to “follow laws and adopt policies to ensure that all persons in each state, regardless of immigration status, are included in the apportionment count used to redistribute seats in the United States House of Representatives following each decennial census.”  The resolution was presented to the House of Delegates by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) President and General Counsel Thomas A. Saenz, who is a member of the ABA Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice.

Civil Rights Organizations Release Redistricting Guide to Support Black, Latino, and AAPI Communities’ Participation in Crucial Process

Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC released a comprehensive guide to redistricting, aimed at empowering Black, Latino, and Asian American communities, as well as other marginalized communities, to be actively engaged participants in one of the most important, once-a-decade events of American democracy.

Civil Rights and Good Government Groups, Together with Linedrawing Experts, Decry Attempts to Use ACS Data as the Primary Basis for Redistricting

Washington, DC – Today, more than 55 civil and human rights groups and expert individuals released a statement to warn against inappropriate uses of data from the American Community Survey (ACS) for the purposes of redistricting. Led by Advancing Justice – AAJC, MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), and National Conference on Citizenship, the statement urges line drawers to use decennial census data as the main source or base of total population for the purpose of drawing the final lines and to limit the use of ACS data to other appropriate redistricting purposes.

MALDEF STATEMENT ON FEDERAL STAY IN ALABAMA CENSUS LAWSUIT

LOS ANGELES – A federal court on Monday issued a stay in a 2018 lawsuit filed by Alabama and Congressman Mo Brooks seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment data used in the 2020 Census. U.S. District Judge R. David Procter’s decision places the case on hold until after the U.S. Supreme Court has resolved an appeal before it in a similar case out of New York.