(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday rejected the contention that replacing its legal team in cases concerning the 2020 census was unjustified or prejudices the case.

In a filing in a federal court in Maryland, the Justice Department said Attorney General William Barr had broad authority to assign lawyers, and that a staffing change “will not affect the posture of the case or cause any disruption.”

The filing came a day after U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan rejected a Justice Department request to substitute new lawyers in the census case he oversees. The Maryland case is overseen by U.S. District Judge George Hazel.

The Justice Department attempted to change the team of lawyers after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 27 against the first attempt by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to add the citizenship question, calling the rationale “contrived.”

Trump has said he was considering issuing an executive order to put the citizenship question on census forms, which opponents fear will lead to an undercount in Democratic-leaning areas with high immigrant populations.

Plaintiffs in the census litigation have argued that bringing in a new legal team will delay the legal proceedings and put government opponents at a disadvantage.

The once-per-decade population count determines the number of congressional representatives for each state and dictates how the federal government allocates more than $800 billion in funding for services such as schools and law enforcement.

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