DragonI

Wilbur Ross broke law, violated Constitution in census decision, judge rules

Commerce secretary’s “cynical” action would have produced undercount of immigrants.

www.washingtonpost.com

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted in “bad faith,” broke several laws and violated the constitutional underpinning of representative democracy when he added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

In finding a breach of the Constitution’s enumeration clause, which requires a census every 10 years to determine each state’s representation in Congress, the 126-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco went further than a similar decision on Jan. 15 by Judge Jesse Furman in New York.

The cases against Ross have been brought by jurisdictions with significant immigrant populations. Only two have completed trials, the case heard by Furman and brought by 18 states led by New York, and Wednesday’s challenge, initiated by the state of California and combined with a suit brought by the city of San Jose.

Because census data is used to apportion distribution of federal funds, an undercount would also have cheated these same jurisdictions, the judge said.

Seeborg, like Furman, found after a trial that Ross misrepresented both to the public and Congress his reasons for adding the citizenship question last March. Ross claimed he was acting at the request of the Justice Department in the interest of enforcing the Voting Rights Act.

The $120 million Wilbur Ross allegedly swindled isn’t the first time his finances have come under scrutiny. He’s had multiple financial assets that were potential conflicts of interest.

— Citizens for Ethics‏  @CREWcrew -  Aug 8, 2018

Four of Ross’s six former lieutenants are suing the commerce secretary for robbing them back when they worked together. Alongside improper fees and regulatory penalties, the questionable financial moves add up to a total $123 million, almost a fifth of Ross’ estimated $700 million in wealth.

The story comes to us from Forbes, which has been investigating Ross since the magazine discovered he lied to them about $2 billion in phony assets in order to assure a place on their list of billionaires. Digging into his record as a private equity investor, reporter Dan Alexander documented a boatload of dodgy moves.

Over several months, in speaking with 21 people who know Ross, Forbes uncovered a pattern: Many of those who worked directly with him claim that Ross wrongly siphoned or outright stole a few million here and a few million there, huge amounts for most but not necessarily for the commerce secretary. 

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