How The Fight Over The Census Citizenship Question Could Rage On

Recent posts on ImmigrationProf Blog (and here) explain the Supreme Court’s decision last week to reject the Census Bureau’s explanation for including a citizenship question on the 2020 census. What comes next? NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang explains, within hours of the decision, President Trump threatened to delay next year’s national head count. Asked by a reporter for how long he would delay the census until a citizenship question is allowed, Trump did not give an answer.

Among other questions, Wang identifies five issues going forward:

1. Will the census questionnaire be printed “on time,” by either July 1 as-planned or October 31 with “with exceptional effort and additional resources”?
2. Will the Trump administration come up with a new justification for adding a citizenship rejection? The court felt the current explanation to be “contrived,” but they left open through their remand a window for the administration to try to make another case in court for adding the question.
3. Can the census be delayed? It is typically April 1, though the end of December appears to meet the legal standard of a decennial count.
4. Will more details be uncovered about the Trump administration’s push for the citizenship question? Litigation continues in a federal court in New York.
5. Will communities with immigrants and people of color be scared into not participating in the census, given all the publicity about the citizenship question, even if it is withdrawn? A field test that includes administration of the citizenship question proceeds after the Supreme Court opinion.

MHC