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North Carolina Among States Suing US Government Over Census Question

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks to reporters in 2017. Stein has joined a lawsuit challenging a controversial citizenship question included in the 2020 census. AP Photo/Emery Dalesio

North Carolina has joined a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from including a question about citizenship in the 2020 census. 

Seventeen states, the District of Columbia, and six cities sued the U.S. government Tuesday, saying a plan to add a citizenship demand to the census questionnaire is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit claims that adding the question to the 2020 census was an arbitrary decision that will "fatally undermine the accuracy of the population count."

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein released a statement saying that any inaccuracies in the census results could mean the loss of federal funding for education and infrastructure, and threaten the state's representation in Congress.

The NAACP says the plans for the census will lead to a massive undercounting of the black population.

A government spokesman did not immediately comment on the filing.

Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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