Full opinion text
JESSE M. FURMAN, United States District Judge: TABLE OF CONTENTS BACKGROUND A. History and Purposes of the Census...519 B. The Secretary's Authority Over the Census...521 C. The History of a Citizenship Question on the Census...524 D. Testing and Adding New Questions to the Census...526 E. Secretary Ross's Decision and This Litigation...527 SECRETARY ROSS'S DECISION...530 A. The Initial Administrative Record Submission...530 1. The December 12, 2017 DOJ Letter...530 2. The Census Bureau's Preliminary Analyses and Recommendations...532 3. Secretary Ross's February 12, 2018 Meeting with the Census Bureau...536 4. The Census Bureau's Analysis of Alternative D...536 5. Communications with Stakeholders...539 6. Secretary Ross's March 26, 2018 Memorandum...542 7. Secretary Ross's Testimony Before Congress...545 B. The Supplemental Administrative Record and the Trial Record...547 1. Secretary Ross's Early Interest in Adding the Citizenship Question...549 2. Comstock's Search for a Rationale and an Agency to Request the Question...550 3. Secretary Ross and His Aides Persist in Their Efforts...552 4. Secretary Ross's Intervention with the Attorney General...554 5. AAAG Gore Ghostwrites the DOJ Letter...555 6. The Attorney General Forbids DOJ to Meet with the Census Bureau...557 7. Efforts to Downplay Deviations from the Census Bureau's Standard Processes...558 a. Secretary Ross's Claim that the Question Was Well Tested...560 b. The Commerce Department Revises the Census Bureau's Description of the "Well-Established Process" for "Adding or Changing Content on the Census"...562 c. Secretary Ross's Description of His Dealings with Nielsen...563 d. Comstock's Testimony About the Census Bureau's Analyses...565 8. The Genesis of the DOJ Letter Was Kept from the Census Bureau...566 9. Findings Regarding the Timing of, and Reasons for, Secretary Ross's Decision...567 STANDING...572 A. General Legal Standards...573 B. Findings of Fact Related to Standing...576 1. Background...577 2. The Citizenship Question Will Cause a Differential Decline in Self-Response Rates...578 3. NRFU Operations Will Not Cure the Differential Drop in Self-Response Rates...583 4. Effects of the Citizenship Question on Apportionment Among and Within States...593 5. Effects of the Citizenship Question on Funding to, and Within, States...596 6. Effects of the Citizenship Question on the Quality and Accuracy of Census Data...599 7. Secretary Ross's Decision Has Caused Plaintiffs to Divert Resources...600 C. Conclusions of Law Related to Standing...604 1. Associational Standing...604 2. Injury in Fact...606 a. Diminished Political Representation...607 b. Loss of Government Funds...608 c. Harm to the Quality and Accuracy of Data...610 d. Diversion of Resources...615 e. Loss of Privacy...618 3. Traceability and Redressability...619 RIPENESS...625 ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT CLAIMS...628 A. General Legal Standards...628 B. The Scope of Review...630 C. Discussion...635 1. Secretary Ross's Decision Was Not in Accordance with Law...636 a. The Section 6 Violation...636 b. The Section 141(f) Violation...641 2. Secretary Ross's Decision Was Arbitrary and Capricious...647 a. Secretary Ross's Explanations Ran Counter to the Evidence Before the Agency...647 b. Secretary Ross Failed to Consider Several Important Aspects of the Problem...651 c. Secretary Ross Failed to Justify Departures from the OMB Guidelines and the Census Bureau's Standards and Practices...654 3. Secretary Ross's Rationale Was Pretextual...660 THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE CLAIM...664 A. Applicable Legal Principles...665 B. The Scope of Review...667 C. Discussion...669 REMEDIES...671 A. General Legal Principles...671 B. Discussion...673 1. Vacatur and Remand...673 2. Injunctive Relief...675 3. Declaratory Relief...678 CONCLUSION...679 The Constitution provides that "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 2. To that end, it mandates that an "actual Enumeration" be conducted "every ... ten Years, in such Manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct," an effort commonly known as the census (or, more precisely, the decennial census). Id. art. I, § 2, cl. 3. By its terms, therefore, the Constitution mandates that every ten years the federal government endeavor to count every single person residing in the United States, whether citizen or noncitizen, whether living here with legal status or without. The population count derived from that effort is used not only to apportion Representatives among the states, but also to draw political districts and allocate power within them. And it is used to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal, state, and local funds. Given the stakes, the interest in an accurate count is immense. Even small deviations from an accurate count can have major implications for states, localities, and the people who live in them - indeed, for the country as a whole. Since its inception in 1790, the decennial census also has been used for another purpose: to collect demographic data about the population of the United States, including information about respondents' race, sex, and age, and whether they own or rent their homes. Most relevant here, the government collected data about people's citizenship status from all households in the country in every census between 1820 and 1950 (with the exception of 1840). In 1960, however, the government stopped asking a citizenship question of every respondent, and for decades thereafter the official position of the Census Bureau was that reintroducing such a question was inadvisable because it would depress the count for already "hard-to-count" groups - particularly noncitizens and Hispanics - whose members would be less likely to participate in the census for fear that the data could be used against them or their loved ones. Every Secretary of Commerce (to whom Congress has long delegated significant authority over the census) adhered to that position - until early last year. On March 26, 2018, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. announced that he was reinstating the citizenship question on the 2020 census questionnaire, purportedly in response to a request from the Department of Justice ("DOJ") for better citizenship data to assist in its enforcement of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ("VRA"). See 52 U.S.C. § 10301. He did so over the strenuous objections of the Census Bureau itself, which warned that adding a citizenship question would harm the quality of census data and increase costs significantly and that it would do so for no good reason because there was an alternative way to satisfy DOJ's purported needs that would not cause those harms. The question in these consolidated cases is whether Secretary Ross's decision to reinstate the citizenship question, and the process leading to that decision, violated provisions of statutory or constitutional law. Two sets of Plaintiffs - one, a coalition of eighteen states and the District of Columbia, fifteen cities and counties, and the United States Conference of Mayors (the "Governmental Plaintiffs"), and the other, a coalition of non-governmental organizations (the "NGO Plaintiffs") - challenge the decision on two principal grounds. First, they contend that the decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), which, among other things, prohibits federal agencies from acting in a manner that is arbitrary and capricious or not in accordance with law. Second, they allege that the decision violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because it was motivated in part by invidious discrimination against immigrant communities of color. Defendants - the United States Department of Commerce; Secretary Ross (the "Secretary"); the Bureau of the Census (the "Census Bureau"); and the Director of the Census, Dr. Steven Dillingham - have tried mightily to avoid a ruling on the merits of these claims. They asserted a slew of unsuccessful jurisdictional arguments, raised multiple challenges to this Court's decisions authorizing discovery beyond the administrative record collected and filed in this litigation (one of which is still pending before the United States Supreme Court), and tried no fewer than fourteen times to halt the proceedings altogether. Between November 5 and 27, 2018, however, this Court held - and completed - an eight-day bench trial to resolve Plaintiffs' claims, taking direct testimony by affidavit from many witnesses and orally from others. This Opinion contains the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law following that trial. Broadly speaking, the Court reaches three legal conclusions. First , the Court holds that most, if not all, of Plaintiffs have standing to bring their claims. Specifically, they have proved by a preponderance of the evidence that they will be harmed in various ways as a result of the addition of a citizenship question on the census and that a favorable ruling here will redress those harms. Defendants' own documents and expert witness confirm that adding a citizenship question to the census will result in a significant reduction in self-response rates among noncitizen and Hispanic households. And expert testimony, based in large part on the Census Bureau's own analyses of past censuses, indicates that the Census Bureau's "Non-Response Follow Up" procedures, extensive though they will be, are unlikely to remedy that reduction in self-response rates, which means that hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of people will go uncounted in the census if the citizenship question is included. The result will not only be a decrease in the quality of census data - something Defendants concede - but likely also a net differential undercount (that is, an undercount of certain sectors of the population, including people who live in households containing noncitizens and Hispanics, relative to others). That undercount, in turn, will translate into a loss of political power and funds, among other harms, for various Plaintiffs. In light of these and other factual findings, the Court holds that most, if not all, Plaintiffs have standing to bring their claims. Second , the Court concludes on the merits that Secretary Ross violated the APA in multiple independent ways. Most blatantly, Secretary Ross ignored, and violated, a statute that requires him, in circumstances like those here, to collect data through the acquisition and use of "administrative records" instead of through "direct inquiries" on a survey such as the census. Additionally, Secretary Ross's decision to add a citizenship question was "arbitrary and capricious" on its own terms: 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 - a veritable smorgasbord of classic, clear-cut APA violations. On top of that, Secretary Ross acted without observing procedures required by law, including a statute requiring that he notify Congress of the subjects planned for any census at least three years in advance. And finally, the evidence establishes that Secretary Ross's stated rationale, to promote VRA enforcement, was pretextual - in other words, that he announced his decision in a manner that concealed its true basis rather than explaining it, as the APA required him to do. Notably, the Court reaches all of those conclusions based exclusively on the materials in the official "Administrative Record" - that is, the record of materials collected and submitted by Defendants that Secretary Ross allegedly considered, directly or indirectly, prior to making his decision. Looking beyond the Administrative Record merely confirms the Court's conclusions and illustrates how egregious the APA violations were. Third , on the merits of the constitutional claim, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs did not carry their burden of proving that Secretary Ross was motivated by invidious discrimination and thus that he violated the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause. In particular, although the Court finds that Secretary Ross's decision was pretextual, it is unable to find, on the record before it, that the decision was a pretext for impermissible discrimination. To be fair to Plaintiffs, it is impossible to know if they could have carried their burden to prove such discriminatory intent had they been allowed to depose Secretary Ross, as the Court had authorized last September. As defense counsel more or less conceded during closing arguments, a deposition of Secretary Ross would have been the best evidence of the question at the heart of the due process inquiry - namely, the true nature of Secretary Ross's intent in reinstating the citizenship question. But this Court's order authorizing such a deposition was stayed by the Supreme Court pending its further review, see In re Dep't of Commerce , --- U.S. ----, 139 S.Ct. 566, 202 L.Ed.2d 400, 2018 WL 5458822 (Nov. 16, 2018) ; In re Dep't of Commerce , --- U.S. ----, 139 S.Ct. 16, 202 L.Ed.2d 306 (2018) (mem.), and Plaintiffs made the understandable decision to proceed with trial despite that stay (because, with the clock ticking on census preparations, waiting for a final ruling from the Supreme Court could have cost Plaintiffs a meaningful chance to obtain any relief). Be that as it may, it was - and remains - Plaintiffs' burden to prove discriminatory intent, and the evidence in the existing record does not support a conclusion that they carried that burden. The Court's Opinion is, to put it mildly, long. But that is for good reasons. For one thing, the Court has taken care to thoroughly examine every issue because the integrity of the census is a matter of national importance. As noted, the population count has massive and lasting consequences. And it occurs only once a decade, with no possibility of a do-over if it turns out to be flawed. See Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998, § 209(a)(8), Pub. L. No. 105-119, 111 Stat. 2440, 2480-81 (1997) ("1998 Appropriations Act") ("Congress finds that ... the decennial enumeration of the population is a complex and vast undertaking, and if such enumeration is conducted in a manner that does not comply with the requirements of the Constitution or laws of the United States, it would be impracticable for the States to obtain, and the courts of the United States to provide, meaningful relief after such enumeration has been conducted."). For another, time is of the essence because the Census Bureau needs to finalize the 2020 questionnaire by June of this year. See Docket No. 540, at 3; see also Brief for Petitioners at 45, Department of Commerce v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for S.D.N.Y. (Dec. 17, 2018) (No. 18-557), 2018 WL 6650094, at *45 (noting "the need to finalize the census questionnaire by mid-2019"). With time so short and the likelihood that one or both sides will seek appellate relief so high, it is critical to make a comprehensive record in order to facilitate higher court review and to minimize any potential need for a remand. That means reaching most, if not all, issues raised by the parties - even if, in other circumstances, it would be unnecessary or even inadvisable. See, e.g., Ashwander v. TVA , 297 U.S. 288, 347, 56 S.Ct. 466, 80 L.Ed. 688 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring) ("The Court will not pass upon a constitutional question although properly presented by the record, if there is also present some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of."). And in light of Defendants' strenuous objections to consideration of any extra-record discovery - objections they are already pressing before the Supreme Court - it also means spelling out which facts are drawn exclusively from the Administrative Record rather than from other evidence, and which conclusions of law are based solely on the Administrative Record rather than on other evidence. In short (or not, as the case may be), the Court concludes that Secretary Ross's decision to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census questionnaire, while not inconsistent with the Constitution, violated the APA in several respects. Those violations are no mere trifles. The fair and orderly administration of the census is one of the Secretary of Commerce's most important duties, as it is critical that the public have "confidence in the integrity of the process." Franklin v. Massachusetts , 505 U.S. 788, 818, 112 S.Ct. 2767, 120 L.Ed.2d 636 (1992) (Stevens, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment). And although some may deride its requirements as "red tape," the APA exists to protect core constitutional and democratic values: It ensures that agencies exercise only the authority that Congress has given them, that they exercise that authority reasonably, and that they follow applicable procedures - in short, it ensures that agencies remain accountable to the public they serve. That is not to say - and the APA does not say - that an agency cannot adopt new policies or otherwise change course. But the APA does require that before an agency does so, it must consider all important aspects of a problem; study the relevant evidence and arrive at a decision rationally supported by that evidence; comply with all applicable procedures and substantive laws; and articulate the facts and reasons - the real reasons - for that decision. The Administrative Record in these cases makes plain that Secretary Ross's decision fell short on all these fronts. In arriving at his decision as he did, Secretary Ross violated the law. And in doing so with respect to the census - "one of the most critical constitutional functions our Federal Government performs," 1998 Appropriations Act, § 209(a)(5), 111 Stat. at 2480-81, and a "mainstay of our democracy," Franklin , 505 U.S. at 818, 112 S.Ct. 2767 (Stevens, J., concurring) - Secretary Ross violated the public trust. BACKGROUND The Court begins with relevant background concerning the history and purpose of the census, the Secretary's authority over the census, and the history of the citizenship question on the census. The relevant background is largely undisputed (for example, as reflected in stipulations of the parties) or drawn from materials of which the Court can take judicial notice. See, e.g. , Fed. R. Evid. 201(b)-(c) ; Effie Film, LLC v. Pomerance , 909 F.Supp.2d 273, 298-303 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (noting that a court may take notice of undisputed historical facts). To the extent that the Court cites trial testimony or exhibits in what follows, it is only by way of background and does not form a basis for any of the conclusions of law later in this Opinion. A. History and Purposes of the Census Article I of the Constitution requires Congress to carry out an "actual Enumeration" every ten years, "in such Manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct." U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3. The original and fundamental purpose of this "Enumeration," known as the decennial census, was to apportion congressional representatives (and, where necessary, direct taxes) among the states "according to their respective Numbers." Id. For the first eighty years of the country's history, the states' "respective Numbers" were calculated according to a formula mandated by the same constitutional provision's infamous Three-Fifths Clause, which reformulated the "actual Enumeration" established by the census by "adding to the whole Number of free Persons ..., and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons" - "all other Persons" being the people then held as slaves. Id. (amended 1868). After the Civil War, that provision was superseded by the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides that "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 2 (emphasis added). The result is that the Constitution "requires the federal government to conduct a Decennial Census counting the total number of 'persons' - with no reference to citizenship status - residing in each state." Docket No. 480-1 ("Joint Stips."), ¶ 1. Significantly, although the "initial constitutional purpose" of the census was to "provide a basis for apportioning representatives among the states in the Congress," it has long "fulfill[ed] many important and valuable functions for the benefit of the country." Baldrige v. Shapiro , 455 U.S. 345, 353, 102 S.Ct. 1103, 71 L.Ed.2d 199 (1982). In particular, it "now serves as a linchpin of the federal statistical system by collecting data on the characteristics of individuals, households, and housing units throughout the country." Department of Commerce v. United States House of Representatives , 525 U.S. 316, 341, 119 S.Ct. 765, 142 L.Ed.2d 797 (1999) (internal quotation marks omitted). See generally U.S. CENSUS BUREAU , MEASURING AMERICA: THE DECENNIAL CENSUSES FROM 1790 TO 2000 ("MEASURING AMERICA ") (2002), http://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2002/dec/pol_02-ma.pdf. "Today, policy makers at all levels of government, as well as private businesses, households, researchers, and nonprofit organizations, rely on an accurate census in myriad ways that range far beyond the single fact of how many people live in each state." COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS , THE USE OF CENSUS DATA: AN ANALYTICAL REVIEW (2000), https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/media/pdf/censusreview.pdf. Among other things, the data are used "for such varied purposes as computing federal grant-in-aid benefits, drafting of legislation, urban and regional planning, business planning, and academic and social studies." Baldrige , 455 U.S. at 353 n.9, 102 S.Ct. 1103. Since 1790, the government has conducted the required "actual Enumeration" through questions - initially asked in person by U.S. Marshals and "specially appointed agents" and later by means of written questionnaire - about both the number and demographic backgrounds of those living in each American household. See MEASURING AMERICA 125-40. Congress provided for each of the first twelve censuses on an ad hoc basis; then, in 1902, Congress established the "Census Office" that it had organized for the twelfth census as a permanent office within the Department of the Interior, to be supervised by a "Director of the Census" appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. See Act of Mar. 6, 1902 §§ 1-3, Pub. L. No. 57-27, 32 Stat. 51, 51. Shortly thereafter, Congress moved the Census Office into the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor. See Act of Feb. 14, 1903 § 4, Pub. L. No. 57-87, 32 Stat. 825, 826-27. Ten years later, various parts of that combined department were transferred into the newly fashioned Department of Labor, and the Census Office was left behind at the slimmed-down (and renamed) Department of Commerce. See Act of Mar. 4, 1913 §§ 1, 3, Pub. L. No. 62-426, 37 Stat. 736, 736-37. (Today the "Census Office" is known as the "Bureau of the Census," or the "Census Bureau.") In 1954, Congress enacted the various census-related statutes codified in Title 13 into positive law, see Act of Aug. 31, 1954, Pub. L. No. 83-740, 68 Stat. 1012, and has enacted all subsequent revisions to the census statutes as amendments to Title 13, which, as a result, is known colloquially as the "Census Act." The modern decennial census is administered exclusively through a "short-form" questionnaire - a short questionnaire containing only a handful of questions. This is a relatively recent phenomenon. Beginning in 1960, and until 2000, each census also included a "long-form" questionnaire, which contained many additional questions but was sent to only a sample fraction of the population. See MEASURING AMERICA 72. In 1960, twenty-five percent of households received the "long-form" questionnaire, while the remainder received the "short-form." Id. In the 1970 and subsequent censuses, approximately one-sixth of all households received the "long-form" questionnaire. See Joint Stips. ¶ 31. During that time, none of the short-form questionnaires included a question about citizenship or birthplace, although the long-form questionnaires each did. See Joint Stips. ¶¶ 30, 35. After the 2000 census, the Census Bureau introduced a new survey instrument, the American Community Survey ("ACS"). Joint Stips. ¶ 37. Unlike the decennial census questionnaires, the ACS is conducted annually and not used to enumerate the population for apportionment purposes. It is distributed to about 3.5 million households (approximately two percent of households in the country) each year, for the sole purpose of collecting demographic data about the population. Since its inception, the ACS has included a question on citizenship. Joint Stips. ¶¶ 38-41. With the advent of the ACS, the Census Bureau phased out the "long-form" decennial census questionnaire. Joint Stips. ¶ 37; see JENNIFER D. WILLIAMS , THE 2010 DECENNIAL CENSUS: BACKGROUND AND ISSUES 3 (2011), https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/2010-background-crs.pdf. Thus, the 2010 decennial census included only a single "short-form" questionnaire, distributed primarily by mail. Id. So too, the 2020 census will be conducted with a single short-form questionnaire, which, for the first time, many respondents will complete online. See Tr. 1091. The modern decennial census begins with a Master Address File ("MAF"), a database containing every known housing unit in the country. See 83 Fed. Reg. 26643, 26644 (June 8, 2018). Every household is then given the opportunity to self-respond to the census questionnaire. Joint Stips. ¶ 7. A majority of households self-respond to that questionnaire. To attempt to count the households that do not self-respond, the Census Bureau uses a set of procedures known as "Non-Response Follow-Up" or "NRFU." Joint Stips. ¶ 8. The first step in NRFU is an in-person visit from a census enumerator. Assuming that a household is listed in the MAF - a precondition for any NRFU efforts - a NRFU enumerator will visit any nonresponding household in person and, if possible, conduct the census survey face-to-face. In the 2020 census, if the NRFU enumerator's first visit is unsuccessful, but the Census Bureau believes the housing unit to be occupied, the Census Bureau will then refer to "administrative records" - data collected from other federal or state entities - to enumerate that household, assuming administrative records of sufficient quality exist. Joint Stips. ¶¶ 9-10; 83 Fed. Reg. at 26649. If the household cannot be enumerated with high-quality administrative records, a NRFU enumerator will return to the household for at least two more in-person attempts. Joint Stips. ¶¶ 10-11. After three unsuccessful attempts to contact a member of the household in person, the NRFU enumerator will return and attempt to gather information from a "proxy," such as a neighbor or landlord, who can report what he or she knows about the household and its members. Joint Stips. ¶¶ 11-13; 83 Fed. Reg. at 26649. Finally, if enumeration-by-proxy fails, the Census Bureau will then "impute" either the number of household members or their characteristics (or both) based on already-existing data from the area. See AR 1281-82, 1304. In other words, the Census Bureau will use a formula to extrapolate what it does not know about the population from what it already knows. See Tr. 1351. Because NRFU data is less accurate than self-response data, see AR 1281, the Census Bureau places a high priority on obtaining self-responses from as many households as possible, see AR 163-65. To that end, the Census Bureau partners with local organizations (which it refers to as "Trusted Partners") to encourage local households to self-respond. Joint Stips. ¶¶ 26, 28. B. The Secretary's Authority Over the Census Since Congress first delegated its census-related authority to an Executive Branch official, it has retained some control over the design and administration of the census. The first permanent delegation, for example, provided that the decennial census "shall be restricted to inquiries relating to the population, to mortality, to the products of agriculture and of manufacturing and mechanical establishments" and that the tabulations of population "shall comprehend for each inhabitant the name, age, color, sex, conjugal condition, place of birth, and place of birth of parents, whether alien or naturalized, number of years in the United States, occupation, months unemployed, literacy, school attendance, and ownership of farms and homes." Act of Mar. 3, 1899 § 7, 30 Stat. 1014, 1015. Within those broad confines, however, Congress provided that "the Director of the Census may use his discretion as to the construction and form and number of inquiries necessary to secure information." Id. In 1976, Congress amended Title 13 substantially. See Act. of Oct. 17, 1976 ("1976 Census Act"), Pub. L. No. 94-521, 90 Stat. 2459 (codified in scattered sections of 13 U.S.C.). Among other things, the 1976 Census Act amended Section 141(a) of Title 13 to update and consolidate its delegation of authority over the census to the Secretary of Commerce. See id. § 7(a), 90 Stat. at 2461 (codified at 13 U.S.C. § 141(a) ). Section 141(a) now provides: The Secretary shall, in the year 1980 and every 10 years thereafter, take a decennial census of population as of the first day of April of such year, which date shall be known as the "decennial census date," in such form and content as he may determine, including the use of sampling procedures and special surveys. In connection with any such census, the Secretary is authorized to obtain such other census information as necessary. 13 U.S.C. § 141(a). That delegation now sits alongside Section 5 of Title 13, which authorizes the Secretary to "prepare questionnaires," including but not only for the decennial census, and to "determine the inquiries, and the number, form, and subdivisions thereof." 13 U.S.C. § 5. Along with - and within - that broad delegation, however, the 1976 Census Act also constrained the Secretary's delegated authority over the decennial census and its questionnaires in several significant ways. First, by its terms, Section 141(a) itself authorized the Secretary to collect information "other" than population information only "as necessary." Id. § 141(a). Second, and significantly, Congress added a new subsection to Title 13's Section 6, which had previously merely authorized the Secretary to acquire and use "pertinent" information from other federal, state, and local authorities for the purpose of gathering census-related data. See 13 U.S.C. § 6 (1970). The new subsection - Section 6(c) - added that, "[t]o the maximum extent possible and consistent with the kind, timeliness, quality and scope of the statistics required, the Secretary shall acquire and use information available from any source referred to in subsection (a) or (b) of this section instead of conducting direct inquiries." 1976 Census Act § 5(a), 90 Stat. at 2460 (codified at 13 U.S.C. § 6(c) ) (emphases added). At the same time, Congress also cabined the Secretary's authority to collect data - other than for the straightforward purpose of counting whole persons for apportionment purposes - through nationwide inquiries of the whole population. Whereas Section 195 of Title 13 had previously merely authorized data collection through statistical sampling, the 1976 Census Act amended that provision to state that, "[e]xcept for the determination of population for purposes of apportionment of Representatives in Congress among the several States, the Secretary shall , if he considers it feasible, authorize the use of the statistical method known as 'sampling' in carrying out the provisions of this title." 1976 Census Act § 10, 90 Stat. at 2464 (codified at 13 U.S.C. § 195 ) (emphasis added); see Department of Commerce , 525 U.S. at 341, 119 S.Ct. 765 (noting that the new Section 195"changed a provision that permitted the use of sampling for purposes other than apportionment into one that required that sampling be used for such purposes if 'feasible' "). Thus, the "broad grant of authority given in § 141(a) is informed ... by the narrower and more specific § 195," Department of Commerce , 525 U.S. at 338, 119 S.Ct. 765, and is similarly limited by the narrower and more specific Section 6(c). Thus, together, Sections 6(c) and Section 195 effectively established a new default rule for the collection of census data other than for apportionment purposes: first, the Secretary was to "acquire and use" administrative record data instead of conducting direct surveys "to the maximum extent possible," if consistent with the type of data required, 13 U.S.C. § 6(c) ; and, second, when conducting surveys, he was required to use statistical sampling "if ... feasible," instead of asking a question of everyone, id. § 195. That was not all. The 1976 Congress also enacted a new reporting requirement, mandating that the Secretary report to the relevant congressional committees, at least three years before the "census date" for a given census, all "subjects proposed to be included, and the types of information to be compiled." 13 U.S.C. § 141(f)(1). Further, no later than two years before the given census date, the Secretary must report to the same congressional committees all "questions proposed to be included in such census." Id. § 141(f)(2) (emphasis added). Congress authorized the Secretary to diverge from the proposals set forth in those reports, but only if he "finds new circumstances exist which necessitate that the subjects, types of information, or questions contained in reports so submitted be modified," and he submits another report "containing the Secretary's determination of the subjects, types of information, or questions as proposed to be modified." Id. § 141(f)(3). Finally, to the extent relevant here, the 1976 Census Act's new constraints on the Secretary's authority built on another important, longstanding constraint: a sharp restriction on the authority to share any information gathered in any given data collection effort. With certain limited exceptions, Section 9 of Title 13 provides: Neither the Secretary, nor any other officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, ... may ... (1) use the information furnished under the provisions of [Title 13] for any purpose other than the statistical purposes for which it is supplied; or (2) make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment or individual under [Title 13] can be identified; or (3) permit anyone other than the sworn officers and employees of the Department or bureau or agency thereof to examine the individual reports. 13 U.S.C. § 9(a). Moreover, Section 9 categorically forbids anyone , "except the Secretary in carrying out the purposes of [Title 13]," from ordering the production of census reports that have been retained by the people who submitted them. Id. And it provides that copies of such census materials are both "immune from legal process" and unusable "for any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding," without the person's consent. Id. Notably, the Secretary's authority to share data with other federal agencies, including DOJ, is "[s]ubject to the limitations contained in" Section 9 (and Section 6(c) ). Id. § 8(b). More specifically, although the Secretary is authorized to "furnish copies of tabulations and other statistical materials" to other federal agencies, those materials may "not disclose the information reported by, or on behalf of, any particular respondent." Id. In sum, as befits a subject over which the Constitution assigns Congress "virtually unlimited discretion," Wisconsin v. City of New York , 517 U.S. 1, 19, 116 S.Ct. 1091, 134 L.Ed.2d 167 (1996), Congress has been judicious in its delegation of that authority to the Executive Branch, and it has retained an active role in policing the form, content, and methodology of the census through these and other provisions. That is, even as it has delegated broad authority over the census to the Secretary, Congress has taken care to limit that authority and, with respect to a few topics that it has deemed especially worthy of restraint - such as the use of survey questions instead of administrative records or the practice of asking survey questions of all respondents as opposed to sampling - Congress has enacted clear instructions for the Secretary to follow in carrying out his statutory duties. Cf. Department of Commerce , 525 U.S. at 337-39, 119 S.Ct. 765. C. The History of a Citizenship Question on the Census As the Court described at length in an earlier Opinion and Order, see New York v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce , 315 F.Supp.3d 766, 776-79 (S.D.N.Y. 2018), the questions posed on the census have ebbed and flowed since the first census in 1790 asked each household about "the sexes and colours of free persons," as well the age of each resident, see Act of March 1, 1790 § 1, 1 Stat. 101, 101-02 (1790). Most relevant for present purposes, a question regarding citizenship appeared for the first time on the fourth census in 1820, when Congress directed enumerators to tally the number of "Foreigners not naturalized." Act of March 14, 1820 § 1, 3 Stat. 548, 550 (1820). With one unexplained exception (the 1840 census), a question about citizenship status or birthplace appeared on every census thereafter through 1950. See New York , 315 F.Supp.3d at 776-79. That changed in 1960 - the first census after Congress authorized the use of sampling. Id. at 778. That year, only five questions were posed to all respondents, concerning the respondent's relationship to the head of household, sex, color or race, marital status, and month and year of birth. In a review of the census several years later, the Census Bureau explained the decision not to ask all respondents about citizenship as follows: "It was felt that general census information on citizenship had become of less importance compared with other possible questions to be included in the census, particularly in view of the recent statutory requirement for annual alien registration which could provide the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the principal user of such data, with the information it needed." U.S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS , 1960 CENSUSES OF POPULATION AND HOUSING: PROCEDURAL HISTORY ("1960 CENSUSES OF POPULATION AND HOUSING") 194 (1966), http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1960/proceduralHistory/1960proceduralhistory.zip. Between 1970 and 2000, the Census Bureau used both a short-form questionnaire (containing only a handful of questions), which was distributed to the vast majority of the population, and a long-form questionnaire (containing both the inquiries on the short-form questionnaire as well as additional questions), which was distributed to only a sample of the population. During that time, the long-form questionnaires contained a citizenship question, but the short-form questionnaires did not. See MEASURING AMERICA 77-78, 84-85, 91-92, 100-101. In 2010, after the advent of the ACS, the Census Bureau dropped the long-form questionnaire entirely. The 2010 census asked about such matters as "the age, sex, race, and ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) of each person in a household," but did not ask about citizenship. WILLIAMS , THE 2010 DECENNIAL CENSUS 3. Thus, the last time that the census asked every respondent about citizenship was sixty-nine years ago, in 1950. Notably, that is before the VRA was enacted in 1965. In other words, for all fifty-four years that the VRA has existed, the federal government has never had a "hard-count" tally of the number of citizens in the country. Instead, consistent with the requirement to use statistical sampling techniques "if ... feasible" for everything other than the constitutionally mandated "actual Enumeration," see 13 U.S.C. § 195, the federal government has extrapolated from citizenship data collected from a subset of the population to model data for the population as a whole, see WILLIAMS , THE 2010 DECENNIAL CENSUS 3. Since 1950, the Census Bureau and former Census Bureau officials have consistently opposed periodic proposals to resume asking a citizenship question of every census respondent. In 1980, for example, several plaintiffs (including the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which appears here as amicus curiae in support of Defendants, see Docket Nos. 75, 179) sued the Census Bureau, contending that the census was constitutionally required to count only citizens. See Fed'n for Am. Immigration Reform v. Klutznick , 486 F.Supp. 564 (D.D.C. 1980) (" FAIR ") (three-judge court). In that litigation, the Census Bureau argued that reinstating a citizenship question for all respondents would "inevitably jeopardize the overall accuracy of the population count" because noncitizens would be reluctant to participate, for fear "of the information being used against them." Id . at 568. Likewise, in Congressional testimony prior to the 1990 census, Census Bureau officials opposed reinstating a citizenship question for all respondents, opining that it could cause legal residents to "misunderstand or mistrust the census and fail or refuse to respond." Exclude Undocumented Residents from Census Counts Used for Apportionment: Hearing on H.R. 3639, H.R. 3814, and H.R. 4234 Before the Subcomm. on Census & Population of the H. Comm. on Post Office & Civil Serv. , 100th Cong. 47-51 (1988) (statement of John G. Keane, Director, Bureau of the Census); see also Census Equity Act: Hearings on H.R. 2661 Before the Subcomm. on Census & Population of the H. Comm. on Post Office & Civ. Serv. , 101st Cong. 42-44 (1989) (statement of C. Louis Kincannon, Deputy Director, Bureau of the Census). Before the 2010 census, former Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt testified before Congress to the same effect. See Counting the Vote: Should Only U.S. Citizens Be Included in Apportioning Our Elected Representatives?: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Federalism & the Census of the H. Comm. on Gov't Reform , 109th Cong. 72 (2005) (statement of Kenneth Prewitt). Just two years ago, four former Census Bureau Directors wrote in an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court (in a case about the use of total population in intrastate redistricting) that a "citizenship inquiry would invariably lead to a lower response rate to the Census." Brief of Former Directors of the U.S. Census Bureau as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees at 25, Evenwel v. Abbott , 136 S.Ct. 1120 (2016) (No. 14-940), 2015 WL 5675832, at *25. D. Testing and Adding New Questions to the Census The Census Bureau's longstanding opposition to a citizenship question on the census is consistent with a more general reluctance to tinker with the questionnaire unnecessarily. That is, although early census questionnaires changed regularly, a more sophisticated understanding of statistics and survey design in the modern era has caused the Census Bureau to approach any changes to the questionnaire with great care. For instance, after the 1990 census, the Census Bureau considered adding a question regarding respondents' Social Security Numbers ("SSNs") to the "short-form" questionnaire. See Tr. 998-99. Before deciding to add such a question, however, the Census Bureau conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing a version of the questionnaire that asked about SSNs to one that did not in order to assess the question's impact on self-response rates. See id. at 999. Overall, the Census Bureau observed a 3.4% decline in self-response rates attributable to the question, a decline that was not evenly distributed among subpopulations. See id. at 999-1000. In part due to these results, the Census Bureau did not - and does not to this day - ask a question about SSNs on the decennial census. See id. at 999. As the SSN example reflects, in recent decades, the Census Bureau has followed a fairly robust process in evaluating whether to add a new question to a survey such as the census. AR 9865, 9867; AR 3560; AR 3890-91; Docket No. 516-1 ("Thompson Decl."), ¶¶ 45, 47-49. The process usually begins with a request from Congress or an Executive Branch agency to add a question. AR 3890; see AR 2304. After receiving such a request, the Census Bureau works with the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") to ensure that the proposed data collection would comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. AR 3890. If the Census Bureau determines that adding the new question is "warranted," the Secretary of Commerce notifies Congress of his intent to add the question - first by including the subject of the question in the Section 141(f)(1) report to Congress, at least three years before the census date and, later, by reporting the question itself in the Section 141(f)(2) report, at least two years before the census date. Id. The Census Bureau must then test the wording of the new question. AR 3891. Pre-testing requires approval from OMB and a process that includes notifying the public and inviting comment through a notice in the Federal Register. Id. After the Census Bureau has responded to comments, OMB can approve the test. Id. Once the question has been tested, the Census Bureau must redesign the questionnaires (or internet collection systems), including translation into non-English languages, and redevelop training procedures for enumerators. Id. Finally, the Census Bureau must submit the final questionnaire to OMB for approval. Id. This process is subject to several sets of guidelines and standards governing collection of statistical data. First, since 2006, the design and administration of governmental surveys - including the census - have been subject to OMB's Standards and Guidelines for Statistical Surveys . PX-260, at ii; see 79 Fed. Reg. 71610 (Dec. 2, 2014) ; PX-359; see also Docket No. 498-11 ("Habermann Aff."), ¶ 20. Several provisions of the OMB Standards and Guide lines are relevant here. First, Statistical Directive Number 1 requires that "a Federal statistical agency must be independent from political and other undue external influence in developing, producing, and disseminating statistics." 79 Fed. Reg. at 71612. Second, Standard 2.3 states that "[a]gencies must design and administer their data collection instruments and methods in a manner that achieves the best balance between maximizing data quality and controlling measurement error while minimizing respondent burden and cost." PX-359, at ii. Finally, Guideline 2.3.1 states: "Design the data collection instrument in a manner that minimizes respondent burden, while maximizing data quality." Id. at 11. Additionally, in 2010, the Census Bureau adopted a comprehensive set of "Statistical Quality Standards." PX-260, at vii. The Standards require pre-testing of any questions to be added to data-collection products such as the census questionnaire. See id. at 8. Sub-Requirement A2-3.3 of the Standards requires that "[d]ata collection instruments and supporting materials must be pretested with respondents to identify problems (e.g., problems related to content, order/context effects, skip instructions, formatting, navigation, and edits) and then refined, prior to implementation, based on the pretesting results." Id. at 8 (emphasis added). Sub-Requirements A2-3.3-1c and A2-3.3-1d further provide that pretesting must be performed when "[r]eview by cognitive experts reveals that adding pretested questions to an existing instrument may cause potential context effects" and when "[a]n existing data collection instrument has substantive modifications (e.g., existing questions are revised or new questions added)." Id. The Standards note that, "[o]n rare occasions, cost or schedule constraints may make it infeasible to perform complete pretesting. In such cases, subject matter and cognitive experts must discuss the need for and feasibility of pretesting. The program manager must document any decisions regarding such pretesting, including the reasons for the decision. If no acceptable options for pretesting can be identified, the program manager must apply for a waiver." Id. The Standards provide for another exception to the pretesting requirement: "Pretesting is not required for questions that performed adequately in another survey." Id. E. Secretary Ross's Decision and This Litigation As noted above, the Census Act requires the Secretary of Commerce to submit a report to the relevant congressional committees at least three years before any given census listing the "subjects proposed to be included, and the types of information to be compiled" on the census. 13 U.S.C. § 141(f)(1). Consistent with that requirement, in March 2017 - approximately one month after his confirmation by the Senate - Secretary Ross submitted a report to Congress titled "Subjects Planned for the 2020 Census and American Community Survey." See AR 194-270. The report listed as the planned subjects for the 2020 census questionnaire the very same subjects that had appeared on the 2010 census questionnaire: age, gender, race/ethnicity, relationship, and tenure (that is, whether the respondent's home in question is owned or rented). See AR 204-13. The list of subjects did not include citizenship status. On March 26, 2018, however, Secretary Ross issued a memorandum directing the Census Bureau to reinstate a question about citizenship status on the 2020 census questionnaire. See AR 1313-20 ("Ross Memo"). In his memorandum, Secretary Ross asserted that his decision was prompted by a letter from DOJ, dated December 12, 2017, which requested reinstatement of the citizenship question to facilitate enforcement of Section 2 of the VRA. See Ross Memo 1, at AR 1313. A few days later, Secretary Ross submitted another report to Congress (of which the Court can and does take judicial notice) titled "Questions Planned for the 2020 Census and American Community Survey." See PX-489. The report included the following planned question about citizenship: Id. at 7. It stated that a question about citizenship had been "asked since 1820." Id. ; see id. n.1 ("Citizenship asked 1820, 1830, 1870, and 1890 to present."). And it asserted that the question is "USED TO CREATE STATISTICS ABOUT CITIZEN AND NONCITIZEN POPULATIONS," which "are essential for enforcing the Voting Rights Act" and "is of interest to researchers, advocacy groups, and policymakers." Id. (capitalization in original). Eight days after Secretary Ross's March 26, 2018 memorandum announcing his decision, the first of these cases - brought by a coalition of states and local governmental entities (the "Governmental Plaintiffs") - was filed. See Docket No. 1. The Governmental Plaintiffs are comprised of eighteen states (New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington) and the District of Columbia, fifteen cities and counties (the cities of Central Falls, Chicago, Columbus, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Providence, and Seattle; the city and county of San Francisco; and the counties of Cameron, El Paso, Hidalgo, and Monterey), and the United States Conference of Mayors. See Governmental Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint ("SAC"), Docket No. 214. On June 6, 2018, the second case - brought by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations (the "NGO Plaintiffs") - was filed. See NGO Plaintiffs' Complaint ("NGO Compl."), 18-CV-5025, Docket No. 1. The NGO Plaintiffs are comprised of New York Immigration Coalition ("NYIC"), CASA de Maryland ("CASA"), American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee ("ADC"), ADC Research Institute ("ADCRI"), and Make the Road New York ("MRNY").See id. In each case, Plaintiffs alleged that Secretary Ross's decision to reinstate a citizenship question violated both the APA and the Enumeration Clause of the Constitution. The NGO Plaintiffs argued as well that the decision violated the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. The procedural history of these cases has been somewhat unusual because, among other things, Defendants filed multiple petitions for mandamus challenging discovery orders issued by the Court and corresponding applications - to this Court, the Second Circuit, and the Supreme Court - to stay proceedings pending adjudication of those petitions. See New York v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce , No. 18-CV-2921 (JMF), 2018 WL 6060304, at *1 n.1 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 20, 2018) (detailing this history). For present purposes, two pieces of that procedural history warrant mention. First, in May and June 2018, Defendants moved to dismiss all of Plaintiffs' claims. See Docket No. 154; 18-CV-5025, Docket No. 38. On July 26, 2018, the Court granted those motions in part and denied them in part. See New York , 315 F.Supp.3d at 811-12. The Court denied the motions with respect to Plaintiffs' claims under the APA and the Due Process Clause, finding, among other things, that the NGO Plaintiffs had alleged a plausible claim of invidious discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. See id. at 806-08. By contrast, the Court held that Plaintiffs failed to state a claim under the Enumeration Clause. "That conclusion," the Court reasoned, was "compelled not only by the text of the Clause, which vests Congress with virtually unlimited discretion in conducting the census, but also by historical practice," namely "that, since the very first census in 1790, the federal government has consistently used the decennial exercise not only to obtain a strict headcount ..., but also to gather demographic data about the population on matters such as race, sex, occupation, and, even citizenship." Id. at 774. Second, around the same time, Plaintiffs moved for relief related to the "Administrative Record" - the record, compiled and submitted by Defendants, of materials "upon which the Secretary of Commerce based his decision." Docket Nos. 173, 173-1; see Docket No. 193. To the extent relevant here, Plaintiffs moved for two forms of relief: first, an order compelling Defendants to "complete" the Administrative Record; and second, an order authorizing discovery "outside" the Administrative Record. See Docket No. 193, at 1. In an oral ruling on July 3, 2018, the Court granted both requests. With respect to the former, the Court found that the Administrative Record did not constitute the "whole record" - namely, the "full scope of" materials that Secretary Ross had considered, whether directly, "indirectly," or "constructively." Docket No. 208 ("July 3rd Tr."), at 79-82. And with respect to the latter, the Court found that Plaintiffs had "made a strong preliminary showing or prima facie showing that they will find material beyond the Administrative Record indicative of bad faith" or pretext. Id. at 85. Notably, Defendants did not immediately challenge the Court's ruling authorizing discovery beyond the Administrative Record (and have never challenged its ruling with respect to completing the Administrative Record). Several months later, however, after the Court authorized depositions of Secretary Ross and a DOJ official, Defendants challenged those rulings by way of petitions for mandamus, tacking on a challenge to the Court's initial discovery Order. Eventually, the Supreme Court agreed to hear one such challenge (treating Defendants' mandamus petition as a petition for certiorari), In re Dep't of Commerce , --- U.S. ----, 139 S.Ct. 566, 202 L.Ed.2d 400, 2018 WL 5458822 (Nov. 16, 2018) ; and stayed the deposition of Secretary Ross pending its decision, but otherwise allowed these proceedings to continue, see In re Dep't of Commerce , --- U.S. ----, 139 S.Ct. 16, 202 L.Ed.2d 306 (2018) (mem.). The case proceeded to trial, without a jury, on November 5, 2018. After extensive post-trial briefing (Plaintiffs' briefs, alone, totaled 502 pages), the Court held closing arguments on November 27, 2018. SECRETARY ROSS'S DECISION With that as background, the Court turns to the process and basis for Secretary Ross's March 26, 2018 decision. In light of the pending Supreme Court challenge to the Court's decision authorizing extra-record discovery and the limited time to resolve Plaintiffs' claims before the 2020 census questionnaires need to be printed, the Court begins with an account that is based exclusively on the initially filed Administrative Record and then turns to what the evidence beyond that portion of the Administrative Record reveals. A. The Initial Administrative Record Submission 1. Defendants first filed what they characterized as the Administrative Record on June 8, 2018. See Docket No. 173. That submission was 1,320 pages and included the December 12, 2017 DOJ letter requesting addition of a citizenship question to the census questionnaire; various analyses of that request by the Census Bureau; and Secretary Ross's March 26, 2018 memorandum. These pages reveal that the Census Bureau repeatedly and consistently recommended against addition of a citizenship question to the census questionnaire based on its assessment that adding the question would reduce self-response rates, thereby increasing costs and harming the overall data and integrity of the census, and that DOJ's stated interest in having more granular citizenship data could be satisfied in a less costly, more effective, and less harmful manner. More importantly, for the purposes of this Court's review, the initial Administrative Record submission alone contains overwhelming evidence to that effect, and none that contradicts it. 1. The December 12, 2017 DOJ Letter 2. Secretary Ross asserted in his March 26, 2018 memorandum that his decision to add the citizenship question to the census questionnaire was prompted by a December 12, 2017 letter from DOJ. The letter came from Arthur E. Gary of the Justice Management Division; it was addressed to then-Acting Director Jarmin. See AR 663-65 (the "Gary Letter"); AR 1525-27 (same). In the letter, DOJ "formally request[ed] that the Census Bureau reinstate on the 2020 Census questionnaire a question regarding citizenship, formerly included on the so-called 'long form' census." Gary Letter 1, at AR 663. "This data," the Letter stated, "is critical to the Department's enforcement of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and its important protections against racial discrimination in voting. To fully enforce those requirements, the Department needs a reliable calculation of the citizen voting-age population in localities where voting rights violations are alleged or suspected." Id. 3. More specifically, the Gary Letter noted that the Supreme Court had "held that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits 'vote dilution' by state and local jurisdictions engaged in redistricting, which can occur when a racial group is improperly deprived of a single-member district in which it could form a majority." Gary Letter 1, at AR 663 (citing Thornburg v. Gingles , 478 U.S. 30, 50, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986) ). Further, "[m]ultiple federal courts of appeals have held that, where citizenship rates are at issue in a vote-dilution case, citizen voting-age population" - often referred to as "CVAP" - "is the proper metric for determining whether a racial group could constitute a majority in a single-member district." Id. (citing cases). "These cases," the Gary Letter reasoned, "make clear that, in order to assess and enforce compliance