NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge blocked the Trump administration Tuesday from asking about citizenship status on the 2020 census, the first major ruling in cases contending that officials ramrodded the question through for Republican political purposes to intentionally undercount immigrants.

In a 277-page decision that won’t be the final word on the issue, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ruled that while such a question would be constitutional, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had added it arbitrarily and not followed proper administrative procedures.

“He failed to consider several important aspects of the problem; alternately ignored, cherry-picked, or badly misconstrued the evidence in the record before him; acted irrationally both in light of that evidence and his own stated decisional criteria; and failed to justify significant departures from past policies and practices,” Furman wrote.

Among other things, the judge said, Ross didn’t follow a law requiring that he give Congress three years notice of any plan to add a question about citizenship to the census.

The ruling came in a case in which a dozen states or big cities and immigrants’ rights groups argued that the Commerce Department, which designs the census, had failed to properly analyze the effect the question would have on households where immigrants live.

A trial on separate suit on the same issue, filed by the state of California, is underway in San Francisco.

The U.S. Supreme Court is also poised to address the issue Feb. 19, meaning the legal issue is far from decided for good.

“We are disappointed and are still reviewing the ruling,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kelly Laco said in a statement.

In the New York case, the plaintiffs accused the administration of Republican President Donald Trump of adding the question to intentionally discourage immigrants from participating, which could lead to a population undercount — and possibly fewer seats in Congress — in places that tend to vote Democratic.

Even people in the U.S. legally, they said, might dodge the census questionnaire out of fears they could be targeted by a hostile administration.

The Justice Department argued that Ross had no such motive.

Ross’ decision to reinstate a citizenship question for the first time since 1950 was reasonable because the government has asked a citizenship question for most of the past 200 years, Laco said.

When Ross announced the plan in March, he said the question was needed in part to help the government enforce the Voting Rights Act, a 1965 law meant to protect political representation of minority groups.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office was among those that litigated the lawsuit, called the decision a win for “Americans who believe in a fair and accurate count of the residents of our nation.”

Ross said politics played no role in the decision, initially testifying under oath that he hadn’t spoken to anyone in the White House on the subject.

Later, however, Justice Department lawyers submitted papers saying Ross remembered speaking in spring 2017 about adding the question with former senior White House adviser Steve Bannon and with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Ross from being deposed, but let the trial proceed, over the objections of Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

In a dissent on one of two Supreme Court orders related to the case, Gorsuch wrote there was “nothing unusual about a new cabinet secretary coming to office inclined to favor a different policy direction, soliciting support from other agencies to bolster his views, disagreeing with staff, or cutting through red tape.”

“Of course, some people may disagree with the policy and process,” he wrote. “But until now, at least, this much has never been thought enough to justify a claim of bad faith and launch an inquisition into a cabinet secretary’s motives.”

The constitutionally mandated census is supposed to count all people living in the U.S., including noncitizens and immigrants living in the country illegally.

The Census Bureau’s staff estimated that adding a citizenship question could depress responses in households with at least one noncitizen by as much as 5.8 percent. That could be particularly damaging in states like New York or California, which have large immigrant populations.

Justice Department lawyers argued that the estimate was overblown and that, even if they were true, that didn’t mean Ross exceeded his legal authority in putting the question on anyway.

The administration faces an early summer deadline for finalizing questions so questionnaires can be printed.

COWLEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas teen after a hit and run crash.

Just after 2:30a.m. Saturday, police responded to report of an accident in the 1200 Block of North A Street in Arkansas City, according to a media release.

Investigators determined a 2001 Ford pickup truck that was northbound on A Street had struck a parked 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck in that block. The Ford’s 17-year-old driver was taken into custody.

Later that morning, officers responded to Wilson Park, 701 N. Summit Street, for a report of criminal damage to property. A vehicle had driven over the curb in the 100 block of West Birch Avenue, striking a trash container, grill, picnic table and light-pole fixture within the park. The vehicle then left the scene of the accident.

The possibility that the accident was connected to the prior incident in which a vehicle drove through Wilson Park, damaging multiple pieces of City equipment in the park, remains under investigation.

The teen arrested is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the relase. He also had no driver’s license, no proof of insurance, was in possession of tobacco by a minor and was transporting an open container of alcohol, according to the release.

 

HUTCHINSON — Hutchinson USD 308 has its new Superintendent. During Monday’s School Board meeting the board approved on a 7-0 vote to hire Clay County School District Superintendent Mike Folks.  Folks is the district’s 33rd superintendent in its 147-year history. He will begin his new job on July 1 and replaces Gary Price, who has been superintendent for the past two years. Price is on his second tenure in the district and did not desire the position on a long-term basis.

Folks has been superintendent at Clay County Schools, in Clay Center, since July 1, 2005. Clay County Schools has high schools in Clay Center and Wakefield in north central Kansas. Prior to that, he was superintendent at Central Heights USD 288 in Richmond, Kan.

He received a master’s from Pittsburg State University in educational leadership and administration in 2000 and a master’s in higher education/high education administration from Fort Hays State University in 1997.

Board President Kail Denison was pleased to have Folks as the next superintendent.

“We had an excellent candidate pool,” Denison said. “After listening to what the community said they wanted in a superintendent, we feel that Mike is a great match with what the community has asked for.”

He received a masters from Pittsburg State University in educational leadership and administration in 2000 and a masters in higher education/higher education administration from Fort Hays State University in 1997.

“My wife and I are excited to be part of the USD 308 team,” Folks said Monday. “There clearly is a lot of passion in the district. The educational opportunities in Hutchinson are excellent, and we will work together to showcase those opportunities to the community.”

Folks won out over local Haven Superintendent Clark Wedel, Moundridge Superintendent George Leary and Cheney Superintendent David Grover.