Trump throws census plans out the window

The future of the citizenship question remains unclear despite a recent Supreme Court ruling; Ethiopian Israelis are leading massive protests against racism. A programming note: Sentences will take a quick break for the holiday tomorrow but will return Friday the 5th. Have a great Fourth of July! Tonight's Sentences was written by Catherine Kim. TOP NEWS No citizenship question for the census? [Protesters outside Supreme Court]( Mark Wilson/Getty Images - The past 24 hours have been a roller coaster for the 2020 census citizenship question, and it remains unclear what its fate will be. - Five days ago, the Supreme Court gave the government two options: try to think of a better reason for justifying the citizenship question under a tight deadline or just print the census without it. [[Vox / Dara Lind](] - Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed that the census was being sent to printers without the citizenship question. [[Politico / Ted Hesson](] - A day later, however, President Trump called the news reports "FAKE" in a Wednesday tweet — even though his administration confirmed the reports in writing. Trump didn't say whether he was talking about plans for the 2020 census, or future ones. [[Vox / Li Zhou](​] - But it seems Trump got officials to act right away: In a complete reversal of the department's previous stance, a top Justice Department official told a Maryland federal judge Wednesday that the administration will try to go forward with the citizenship question. It's not clear if that's really possible. [[NYT / Alan Rappeport, Maggie Haberman and Michael Wines](] - Activists had been celebrating the absence of the citizenship question. They had been concerned that the question could skew population counts by scaring away immigrants from participating, ultimately leading to a congressional map drawn in Republicans' favor. [[Washington Post / Ann E. Marimow, Matt Zapotosky, and Tara Bahrampour](] - DOJ's reversal is sowing more confusion regarding the census. The Maryland judge wants answers, and has instructed the DOJ to provide more information by Friday afternoon. [[CNN / Ariane de Vogue, Gregory Wallace, and Jeremy Diamond](] Ethiopian Israelis protest over unarmed teen’s death - Ethiopian Israelis have been leading protests after an unarmed Ethiopian Israeli teen was fatally shot by a police officer. [[Reuters](] - The off-duty cop said he was trying to break up an argument including 19-year-old Solomon Tekah when he shot a bullet at the ground that bounced back up and ultimately killed Tekah. The officer has been charged with negligent homicide. [[Times of Israel / Jacob Magid](] - The demonstrators, who are mostly young, have been showing their rage by blocking roads and disrupting traffic. Some protests have taken a violent turn; on Tuesday, 111 police officers were wounded and 136 people were arrested. [[BBC](] - In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while he mourns the death Tekah, lawlessness is unacceptable. [[Jerusalem Post / Herb Keinon,]([Jerusalem Post Staff, and Anna Ahronheim](] - The demonstrations are about more than just Tekah's death. The protesters say that black youth in Israel are in constant fear of police harassment and are demanding better treatment. [[Al Jazeera](] - The sentiment is especially strong among the Ethiopian community. While Israel brought 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to the country within 36 hours in 1991 to escape war, integration has proven difficult. [[NYT / Isabel Kershner](] - This isn't the first time the community has complained about what they say is institutionalized racism. Similar demonstrations happened in 2015 when a video of a police officer beating up an Israeli Ethiopian soldier surfaced. [[AP / Aron Heller](] - The goals of the 2015 protests are the same in 2019: to give Ethiopian Israelis a sense of dignity within Israel. [[Vox / Alex Ward](] MISCELLANEOUS A fire at a Jim Beam warehouse in Kentucky destroyed 45,000 barrels of the bourbon. That's about $122 million to $162 million worth of the hard stuff. [[NYT / Sandra E. Garcia](] - A 16-year-old boy sent his friends a video of him allegedly raping a girl along with the text "When your first time having sex is rape." The judge in the case said he deserves leniency because he's from a "good family." [[BBC](] - A man showed up to court in blackface to protest his conviction on charges of attempted murder, saying he was being treated "like a black man." Following his racist rant, he was sentenced to life in prison. [[HuffPost / Marina Fang](] - Cockroaches will outlive us all: The pests are getting harder and harder to kill because they can rapidly develop resistance to insecticide. [[USA Today / Jordan Culver](] - Green iguanas are taking over Florida, and the state's wildlife commission is advocating strong measures to curb the population: It released a statement saying it "encourages homeowners to kill green iguanas on their own property whenever possible." [[CNN / Doug Criss](] VERBATIM "There’s no difference from blood to blood. We’re all human beings." [[A chant repeated by Ethiopian Israeli protesters as they marched](] WATCH THIS 900 million eligible voters need access to polling booths. [[YouTube / Christina Thornell and Johnny Harris](] We want to bring you more videos and ambitious series with the hosts you love. [Join the Vox Video Lab]( today to support our work on YouTube. [Read more from Vox](#) [The legal limbo of lost embryos]( [Mississippi is forbidding grocery stores from calling veggie burgers “veggie burgers”]( [Apple effectively has a monopoly on fixing your iPhone. 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