In a stinging defeat for President Donald Trump, his administration has ended its effort to add a citizenship  question to the 2020 U.S. census, saying that it will begin printing forms that do not include the contentious query.

White House and Justice Department officials confirmed the decision, which came in the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling on June 27 that faulted the Trump administration for its original attempt to add the question.

Although the court left open the possibility of the administration adding the question, there was little time left for the government to come up with a new rationale.

The government had said in court filings that it needed to finalize the details of the questionnaire by the end of June.

Trump had suggested delaying the census so that the question could be added.

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