Judge abruptly schedules Census hearing after Trump tweets he may ignore court on citizenship question

U.S. District Judge George Hazel in Maryland on Wednesday scheduled a last-minute hearing on whether a citizenship question will be included in the U.S. Census. The move came just hours after President Donald Trump said that he may ignore a decision not to print the question.

On Tuesday, a Justice Department spokesperson confirmed that the Census would be printed without the citizenship question. But Trump later called that "fake news" and suggested that he would move forward with the citizenship question.

Soon after, Hazel scheduled a telephonic hearing for 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Lawyers for MALDEF, a group of Latino legal advocates, suggested that Trump's tweet was the reason for the hearing.

"The judge on his own has scheduled this hearing," the group said in a statement. "We received no indication as to the reason. However, we are outraged at Trump's tweet. The Census Bureau must immediately move to counteract his statements with the Truth."