Justice Department: Census citizenship quest wasn't devious

NEW YORK (AP) - Justice Department lawyers say new claims casting the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census in a devious light are false.

The lawyers filed papers late Monday in Manhattan federal court in advance of a Wednesday hearing.

The hearing was called after opponents of adding the question claimed last week that they'd unearthed new evidence linking the addition of the question to a Republican redistricting expert who they said wanted to aid white people and Republicans.

The Justice Department lawyers said the assertions "are not only false, but legally irrelevant."

They said the new claims were an attempt to stop the Supreme Court from issuing a ruling by July on whether the question can be added to the census.

The high court seems poised to approve the question.