SCOTUS Signals Support for Citizenship Census Question?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It is simply amazing the lengths the Left will go to in order to oppose even the most common sense proposals coming from Republicans. A recent example is the Left’s indignation at the suggestion that census workers should include a citizenship question as one of the many asked during the once-decade-tally of who is in our country.

We often see estimates of how many illegal aliens reside within the borders (porous though they may be) of the United States. Estimates is all that’s available because there are very few ways to confirm the presence of those that purposely fly below the radar. One straightforward way to address this big question mark is to charge census workers with asking if a resident is a citizen or not.

The Left challenged this legal change immediately, arguing that it’d be unfair, especially because it could stifle illegal alien participation, which would depress recorded population figures, which could then negatively affect federal funding that states like California receive. They want as many warm bodies as possible to be counted, so they can get as many taxpayer dollars as possible, and possibly get more seats in Congress.

The Right, on the other hand, has an interest in actually knowing who in the country is a citizen and how many they number. The battle has made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where some of the conservative justices may be hinting at support for including the citizenship question in the census.

From Fox News:

“The Supreme Court’s conservative justices signaled possible support Tuesday for the Trump administration’s bid to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, during a high-stakes argument where partisan lines were quickly drawn.

While the liberal justice peppered the government with questions about the plan, the conservative justices were mostly silent during arguments, in a sign the conservative majority could hold in the administration’s favor in the closely watched case. […]

At issue is the level of discretion Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross — who oversees the U.S. Census Bureau — has to change information contained in the once-a-decade population count.

Three federal courts have blocked the Commerce Department from adding the citizenship question, ruling that Ross violated federal law in the way he went about trying to include the question for the first time since 1950.

It is a major fight over executive power with stark implications for the fight over immigration, and for national elections. Critics say adding the question would discourage many immigrants from being counted. How the justices rule could affect how many seats states have in the House of Representatives and their share of federal dollars over the next 10 years.

The 85-minute oral argument Tuesday grew testy at times, with several on the bench interrupting counsel repeatedly, and others offering lengthy explanations of their legal positions. […]

One of the foundational requirements of the federal democracy, the census holds enormous political, social and economic weight. The makeup of Congress and other elected offices, as well as the distribution of taxpayer funds, are directly determined by the population count, and the numbers offer a broad canvas into the nation’s racial, regional and cultural identity.[…]”

Read more about the oral arguments, and telling comments and questions from the high court’s justices, here.