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“Carson has moved at lightning speed to gut these important regulations,” says Kristen Clarke, executive director of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. At the same time, she adds, there’s been a marked decline in the number of Justice Department cases brought against realtors or landlords under the Fair Housing Act. “In both agencies, we’ve seen significant shifts” away from enforcing the law.

In its 36-page complaint, the Lawyers’ Committee argues that the Trump administration has violated the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act by “arbitrarily and capriciously adding a new and untested question to the 2020 Decennial Census that will require all United States residents to disclose whether they are citizens.”

“The Constitution requires that we capture a full and accurate count of the population when we do the census,” says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which is among the law groups representing San Jose and Black Alliance for Just Immigration. “The decisions that have been made fully jeopardize our ability to capture a true snapshot of how many people are living in communities like San Jose all over our country.”

Some cities and counties are proceeding with their desegregation plans, but the delay by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could make things harder for them on several levels, said Thomas Silverstein, counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

“If he were alive today, King would be incensed by the old and familiar tactics used to suppress minority voting rights,” said Kristen Clarke.

In recent years, Texas has passed laws that have stepped up penalties for voter fraud, extending prison terms and increasing fines, according to John Powers, who specializes in voting rights at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.