17 States and 7 Cities Sue Census Bureau Over New 2020 Citizenship Question The group, which is lead by New York state, filed the suit on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. The other states joining the suit are: CT, DL, IL, IA, MD, MA, MN, NJ, NM, NC, OR, PA, RI, VT, VA, and WA. The cities joining the suits are Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, Seattle, and San Francisco, plus the United States Conference of Mayors. The question of citizenship hasn't been asked in the census since 1950 but the Justice Department asked for it to be added back into the questionnaire so it can enforce the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit claims that the question is unconstitutional because it will "fatally undermine the accuracy of the population count and cause tremendous harm to the Plaintiffs and their residents." It also states that the new question violates the Administrative Procedure Act and does not follow the Census Bureau's standards for accepting new questions.