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Supreme Court Rules against Citizenship Question on 2020 Census for now

This Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the stated reasoning behind the citizenship question that the Trump Administration wanted to add to the 2020 Census, setting the efforts of the Trump administration further back. In the 5-4 ruling, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the reason behind the citizenship question which was provided by the White House “appears to have been contrived.”

The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court insinuating that there is a possibility for the administration to provide an adequate justification for adding the question. President Trump responded to the decision by announcing on twitter that he will be working with the lawyers to delay the 2020 Census. The administration has argued that the citizenship question is essential to their efforts to strengthen the voting rights of minority residents.

In April, evidence compiled from the computer files of Republican strategist, Thomas Hofeller, suggested that the Trump administration wanted to collect citizenship information so that states could draw voting district based only on eligible voters rather than all residents. Mr. Hofeller wrote that this “would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.”

The citizenship questioned hasn’t been on the census since the 1950s. Various civil rights groups are claiming that this is an attack on people of color especially migrants fleeing to find refuge in the states. In the atmosphere of heightened ICE raids, the Trump administration’s zero tolerance approach to immigration and jarring conditions of detention facilities, the fear attached with the citizenship question is valid.

 

Media Resources: BBC 6/27/2019, NYT 6/27/2019, NYT 6/27/2019

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