At least 12 states say they will sue the Trump administration over its plans to add a question about citizenship to the upcoming census. Voting rights activists say the question will deter immigrants from participating in the census, which is used to allocate public funds and draw congressional districts. This is White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaking Tuesday.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “Once again, I would argue that this has been practice of the United States government. The purpose is to determine individuals that are here. It also helps to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Without that information, it’s hard to make those determinations. And that information needs to be gathered, and it has been part of the United States census every time we’ve had a census since 1965, with the one exception of the 2010 census.”

This was a blatant lie. In fact, the census has not included a citizenship question since 1950. We’ll have more on the brewing battle over the 2020 census after headlines.