North Carolina Among States Suing US Government Over Census Question

North Carolina has joined a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from including a question about citizenship in the 2020 census. 

Seventeen states, the District of Columbia, and six cities sued the U.S. government Tuesday, saying a plan to add a citizenship demand to the census questionnaire is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit claims that adding the question to the 2020 census was an arbitrary decision that will "fatally undermine the accuracy of the population count."

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein released a statement saying that any inaccuracies in the census results could mean the loss of federal funding for education and infrastructure, and threaten the state's representation in Congress.

The NAACP says the plans for the census will lead to a massive undercounting of the black population.

A government spokesman did not immediately comment on the filing.