A second federal judge has just rejected the Dept. of Justice’s attempt to switch gears in the Census citizenship question case, blocking DOJ’s request that it be allowed to change teams of attorneys.
Calling yesterday’s ruling a “well-reasoned order,” Judge George Hazel said he agrees that changing teams would be “disruptive” this late in the game, The Hill reports.
“As a practical matter, the court cannot fathom how it would be possible, at this juncture, for a wholesale change in defendants’ representation not to have some impact on the orderly resolution of these proceedings unless defendants provide assurance of an orderly transition between the withdrawing attorneys and new counsel,” the judge wrote.
Judge Hazel also warned the DOJ that just switching lawyer will not erase prior arguments made in the trial, as the DOJ had requested it be allowed to do last week.
Meanwhile, the Census, according to the Trump administration, had to start printing by the end of June. It’s unclear how it could be changed at this late date.
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