High Stakes In Census 2020 Citizenship Question Up In U.S. Supreme Court

"The outcome in New York v. Department of Commerce, which the Supreme Court will hear on April 23, will affect virtually every aspect of our national life, from the right to vote to the balance of power in Congress and the Electoral College to the scope of federal educational, health, and welfare programs. At issue is whether next year’s federal census form can include a question asking whether each member of a household is a U.S. citizen. Although the case has constitutional dimensions—the census itself is created by the Constitution— the result is likely to turn on whether the Department of Commerce, which administers the census, properly read Title 13 of the United States Code. . ." That's the opening this morning from The Atlantic

A Supreme Court Case That Will Affect Every Aspect of National Life

Can the federal census form ask whether each member of a household is a U.S. citizen?

by Garrett Epps 

Professor of constitutional law at the University of Baltimore

6:00 AM ET

. . .  The census form hasn’t asked whether each person listed is a U.S. citizen since 1950.

Whatever you think of the idea as a general matter, it presents complex issues in the 2020 census context. The first is whether the department followed proper procedures in changing the question; the second is whether a citizenship question will make the 2020 census count more accurate and useful.

 

To understand the stakes, recall that the U.S. census is one of the few in the world that is required by its country’s constitution . . .

 

The framers wanted the U.S. House of Representatives to be the “people’s house,” and to do that, distribution of seats had to be fair. For this reason, they provided in Article I § 2 cl. 3 that representatives would be awarded to states “according to their respective numbers,” and that those numbers would be determined by a new count (an “actual enumeration”) every 10 years. Conducting the census is not simply a power granted to Congress; it is a positive duty as well.  And since the demise of the infamous three-fifths clause (which counted each slave as only 60 percent of a “free person”), courts have read “respective numbers” to mean everybody, not just citizens or voters. . .  In the half century since The Voting Rights Act became law, DOJ had always relied on other survey research for citizenship information, and had never asked for a change in the questionnaire before.  . .  The New York case is not the only challenge to the citizenship question

READ MORE > https://www.theatlantic.com

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Will the Census Count All of America?

If the Supreme Court allows a citizenship question in the 2020 count, it could profoundly affect the nation’s representative democracy.

By The Editorial Board April 20, 2019

The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20

"The Constitution calls for an “actual Enumeration” of each state’s population every 10 years, and since 1790, Congress has enacted legislation to fulfill that mandate. The decennial count, managed at the United States Census Bureau, aims to fulfill that constitutional requirement.

Next week, in what promises to be the highest-profile case of this Supreme Court term, the court will consider whether the Trump administration complied with these dictates when it sought to add to the 2020 census a question about whether the respondent is a United States citizen.

At the heart of the dispute lies the question: Who gets to be counted?

Federal law protects the privacy of everyone who responds to the census. But that’s small comfort for immigrants and their families living in a climate of fear under President Trump. Bureau officials have for decades recognized that communities with significant immigrant populations are likely to be undercounted if there is a citizenship question on the census.

The 2020 count is no exception. . .