The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled [order, PDF] Tuesday that Justice Department (DOJ) [official website] official John Gore must sit for questioning by attorneys over lawsuits stemming from the introduction of a citizenship question his department requested for the 2020 census.

The Trump administration is currently facing a number of lawsuits filed by several states and cities that want the citizenship question removed from the upcoming census. At the request of the plaintiffs to the consolidated cases, US District Judge Jesse Furman ordered [NPR report] the DOJ to make Gore available for a deposition after concluding that he “possesses relevant information that cannot be obtained from another source.” Gore’s deposition, which was originally scheduled for September 12, was temporarily stayed while the appeals court reviewed the DOJ’s request to block the discovery order from the district court.

The court of appeals denied the writ of mandamus and lifted the stay stating, “[it] is not warranted here because [p]etitioners have not persuaded us that their ‘right to issuance of the writ is clear and indisputable.’ The district court’s discovery orders do not amount to “a judicial usurpation of power or a clear abuse of discretion.'”

This order is the latest development [JURIST report] in the cases challenging the Trump administration’s inclusion of a citizenship question in the 2020 Census.