U.S. Supreme Court keeps citizenship question off census for now

"Altogether, the evidence tells a story that does not match the explanation the secretary gave for his decision," Roberts wrote.

Right. Because they're lying, and there's evidence of the lies in writing on multiple fronts. And yet 4 justices still voted to pretend what they were saying was truthful. Amazing.

The constitution calls for a count of all the people in the country, not just the citizens. It is laid out in stark terms not open for judicial interpretation.

If you claim to bw an originalist, you have to oppose the citizenship question.

@bass4funk

But the point of the census isn't to find out how many citizens are in the US. It's to find out how many people are there. According to the constitution, it is to count "the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed". The problem with the citizenship question isn't about finding out how many illegal immigrants are in the country, but with how many people might not answer the census at all because they're worried about that question for themselves or someone in their house.

Furthermore, the census wouldn't give an accurate count of citizens even if it did ask the question, because it's only counting people living in the US anyway. I'm a US citizen living in Japan and won't be counted because I don't live there.

Here we go. So it’s basically ok, for the country NOT to know how many citizens it has, so then we will never get an accurate number of the population

No, the ruling didn't make any statements like that whatsoever, not even in bubble land. Whomever told you the above either lied to your face, or was dump as a pile of bricks and literally was clueless as to what they were talking about. The stuff my cat coughed up this morning has more intelligence.

because liberals are scared that we might find out how many illegals are in the country?

Heh, a highly biased to the right Supreme Court decided this, not the Liberals. These are your own people selling you out!

Another 5-4 on the side of decency and the rule of law and against the right wing side of the Supreme Court. Susan Collins - your vote for Kavanaugh is a negative gift that keeps on giving. 

"Please send us a more believable lie".

 - John Roberts

A few months ago Robert Mueller wrote that criminal acts had been committed but that he couldn't prosecute the wrongdoer because of DoJ rules. Today the top court says it can't rectify a known wrong because the constitution doesn't prohibit it.

And the nation is left swinging in the breeze.

The citizenship question will lead to undocumented people not filling it in. This will make the census less accurate. Being less accurate - and I know Trump cultists will find this hard to believe, but bear with me - is a bad thing.

Like Citizens United, this ruling is a principled decision that is out of touch with the practical reality of maintaining a functioning democracy.

Both parties know how to gerrymander, so in principle the decision should affect both parties equally. But in practice, the Court's decision favors whichever party is less principled and less committed to democratic norms at any given time. The party eager to gerrymander is precisely the party which should not be in power.

A census is supposed to count people, not citizens.

And the nation is left swinging in the breeze.

make sense when the majority of the US population is center or left also the SC is majority right, damn that thing called the constitution and the law. Judges have to make decisions based on the constitution and the law, if Trump wants to change the constitution or the laws they'll need to do it through the house and congress, goodluck lol thank god Trump cant executive order a new law, democracy is still holding on in the US

As I previously wrote here:

https://japantoday.com/category/world/update-5-census-citizenship-question-fight-rages-in-u.s.-congress-courts#comment-1922299

The US Supreme Court just rejected the reason given for adding the citizenship question on the upcoming census.

The USSC left the possibility that the question can be added in the future, but it has to be a valid reason - and this reason isn't it.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said the explanation offered by the Trump administration for adding the question appears to have been contrived:

"[Executive branch officials must] offer genuine justifications for important decisions, reasons that can be scrutinized by courts and the interested public. Accepting contrived reasons would defeat the purpose of the enterprise. If judicial review is to be more than an empty ritual, it must demand something better than the explanation offered for the action taken in this case.”

Chief Justice Roberts wrote that executive branch officials ordinarily have broad discretion to make policy judgments. But he said the record in the case demonstrated that Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, had not given a full and accurate account of his decision to add the question.

In sworn testimony before Congress, Mr. Ross said he had decided to add the question “solely” in response to a Justice Department request in December 2017 for data to help it enforce the Voting Rights Act, or the V.R.A. Three federal trial judges have ruled that the evidence in the record demonstrated that Mr. Ross was not being truthful. Instead, the chief justice wrote, Mr. Ross had tried hard to find a rationale for adding the question:

"[The evidence] in the case showed that the V.R.A. played an insignificant role in the decision-making process. The secretary was determined to reinstate a citizenship question from the time he entered office; instructed his staff to make it happen; waited while commerce officials explored whether another agency would request census-based citizenship data; subsequently contacted the attorney general himself to ask if D.O.J. would make the request; and adopted the Voting Rights Act rationale late in the process. Altogether the evidence tells a story that does not match the explanation the secretary gave for his decision.”

It's unlikely there's time to add anything to this upcoming census since the census forms have to be printed soon, while any addition has to go through the process again.

It's over.

No, it’s not, that’s why the SC didn’t make any ruling and kicked it back to the lower courts, so it’s great news for the GOP to try again. I would agree with you if they made a ruling, then that’s it, but they didn’t...phhhhew!

"We lied before, but we have a different justification now."

Liberals the last people that can call anyone a liar. From healthcare to border security to this phony sympathetic outreach to wanting to help illegals which is one of the biggest scams ever, spare me. Lol

As I said, the clock is ticking and let’s see what the Dems can put up now that Trump has the power to round illegals up. If the Dems care, they’ll give the President what he needs, if not, the buses will be awaiting.

How is this an issue? Yes, we need to know how many people are living in the country, but we also need to know how many legal residents are living in a country. Illegal immigrants cannot be counted towards things like number of representatives. It's a no-brainer, the question needs to be there. Of course most will not answer it truthfully, but pretending the issue doesn't exist is even worse.

Yeah, well. This is good news, but totally overshadowed by the 5- decision to not overturn ridiculous gerrymandering -- which, in case you don't know, is much more a threat to our republican form of goverment than all the Russian Trolls tying away for a thousand years.

The Republicans got the gerrymandering is A=OK vote via their stolen Gorsuch Seat. Remember that? I do. As far as I am concerned, any 5-4 decision going Repub way is not good law.

And so I support stacking the bench.

How do illegal migrants even receive a census?

If they don't live in a household that has a legal resident or address, census workers go to places where they believe people who may be missed by the mailed census forms, and talk to people themselves

Would an illegal migrant even fill it out? Would an illegal migrant fill out their nationality?

That's all optional. That's why anything that dis-incentivizes people from filling out the census form decreases its accuracy

Just really, really basic logic here and its amazing how many people simply cannot get it: Asking a question you know you won't get an honest answer to is pointless unless you are adept at reading facial expressions and body language and you are there to interpret it.

The people who work at the census bureau want accurate information. As soon as you start asking people questions that they will either lie about or decline to answer (by just not filling out the form) all their information becomes inaccurate and basically useless. This just ruins the census completely.

I can think of only one reason to do this and its not anything being said. That is that later, citing inaccuracies and non-compliance in the census, you make it a legal requirement to fill out your census card punishable by police raids and jail if you fail to do so, thus furthering the police state America already has. And yes there are people so devious and evil as to actually advocate that....on the sly of course. Some posting here may not understand it completely but sense it and thus want this question on the form.

Asking on a census if you are a citizen is even an issue? Unbelievable. PC has gone insane.

bass4funk: This is not over, that is why the SC tossed it back to the lower courts.

It's over. It's been exposed that the basis for asking the question was a lie from day 1. That gives Trump 2 options: Go back to court with the same lie the SC just documented, or make up a completely different lie and say, "We lied before, but we have a different justification now."

So good luck with using lies to trick the courts into helping your party. You seem like the type of American who would openly support that.

SC John Roberts called out Trump for lying. Big one!

No, he did not! Come on now....

This is not over, that is why the SC tossed it back to the lower courts. They will get all the documents in order and try to make the case more thoroughly and thank God, the SC allowed that and didn’t rule on that, so the GOP has a chance to make its case again, thank God.

A few months ago Robert Mueller wrote that criminal acts had been committed but that he couldn't prosecute the wrongdoer because of DoJ rules.

Well, when he submitted his final report it when you spoke to AG Barr, he could’ve made a decision then if he thought that crimes were committed and he said that there weren’t as far obstruction is concerned, either a crime was committed or not. You can’t say, maybe...perhaps.

Today the top court says it can't rectify a known wrong because the constitution doesn't prohibit it.

It never stopped the FBI or the CIA from doing what they always wanted to do.

And the nation is left swinging in the breeze.

Yup!

Heh, a highly biased to the right Supreme Court decided this, not the Liberals. These are your own people selling you out!

Actually, they didn’t, what they did was kick it back to the lower courts, so if they would have made a final ruling, then I wouldn’t argue that, but they are still open to hearing a valid reason why it should be on the questionnaire. So expect this to continue.

The problem with the citizenship question isn't about finding out how many illegal immigrants are in the country, but with how many people might not answer the census at all because they're worried about that question for themselves or someone in their house.

The problem with the argument against asking the citizenship question is that the census has asked it in the past and more recently in the long form questionnaire. Perfectly legal and non-controversial until now. Illegal aliens are criminals and its quite natural for criminals to want to avoid the attention of governing authorities. That's what they do. Why are we concerned that they are living in "fear"? People who are breaking the law and evade responsibility should live in fear just the same as a citizen who cheats on their taxes or commits some other crime.

Face it - if there were not implications for the Democrat party with regard to Congressional representation and grants from the Federal government the Dems would not mind the question in the least bit. It cannot be used for law enforcement - which by the way is a ridiculous regulation. It is stupid that one part of the government is restricted from upholding the law using information from another part of the government. That hardly is true for tax cheats.

Roberts and his buddies on the fanatical Left on the Court are idiots. They seem determined to undermine the very Constitution they were supposed to uphold.

Right. Because they're lying, and there's evidence of the lies in writing on multiple fronts. And yet 4 justices still voted to pretend what they were saying was truthful. Amazing.

Here we go. So it’s basically ok, for the country NOT to know how many citizens it has, so then we will never get an accurate number of the population because liberals are scared that we might find out how many illegals are in the country? It’s just outrageous! Well, this is not over, so at least the president will delay the census questions you know for now. So this is by no means over yet.

Another 5-4 on the side of decency and the rule of law and against the right wing side of the Supreme Court. Susan Collins - your vote for Kavanaugh is a negative gift that keeps on giving

What? Thank God, it’s still open to review. Pop open that champagne once the SC makes a final decision, I’ll even throw in a bottle of Möet should it goes the liberals way,

Wow - unbelievable. Other countries want to know if people living within their borders are obeying their laws. Roberts states that the question is legal but throws up a roadblock anyway. Seems he just wants Trump to ask nicely. Delay Census until the Dems grab for Congressional seats and unearned federal funds can he thwarted. Roberts is again a disgrace.

Right. Because they're lying, and there's evidence of the lies in writing on multiple fronts. And yet 4 justices still voted to pretend what they were saying was truthful. Amazing.

If a judge can decide that a government officials motivations are illegitimate when exercising their legal authority (Roberts admits that it is legal to ask the question) the law is essentially rendered meaningless. Any judge can change the law by finding any motivation that they disagree with to make a decision based on their ideology instead of the law. But I suppose this is how the Left likes it given that Socialism is incompatible with an American Constitution that is centered on the rights of individuals.