Nevada has joined a coalition of 15 states and several major cities opposing a lawsuit by the state of Alabama that would have the U.S. Census count only U.S. citizens.
The states and cities want to defend the longstanding practice of counting all U.S. residents, regardless of immigration status.
Alabama’s lawsuit seeks to declare that illegal.
The Census totals play a key role in congressional representation and the distribution of federal funding.
The cities and states argued in a court filing that the Constitution requires an actual enumeration of the population, which means all people regardless of their citizenship or legal status.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks of Huntsville filed the 2018 lawsuit that says counting all residents, regardless of immigration status, was not intended by the Constitution's writers.