The issue of whether the Interior Department, which is in charge of administering the national census through its Bureau of the Census, can add a question to the 2020 census that asks whether the respondent is a citizen, a legal immigrant or an unauthorized one continues to fascinate. It was argued in the Supreme Court a couple of weeks ago and a decision is expected in June.
Why should a government charged with running the country not be able to determine the citizenship status or other characteristics of those within its borders? Sadly this dispute seems part of ongoing efforts on the left to delegitimize the Trump Administration by challenging his right to exercise its constitutional powers.
The Constitution’s so-called census clause specifically only requires an “actual enumeration” every ten years, with the House of Representatives to be apportioned based “on the whole numbers of persons in each state.” Congress has legislatively added to this general power, authorizing the executive branch to conduct the census and the basing of aid to various localities on the numbers. In addition, it seems not to have become controversial that there will be questions about sex, age, race and Hispanic or Latino origin.
So what prompted the full-court press against a citizenship question? It is particularly irksome that opponents argue that the question would tend to discourage the participation of immigrants – whether legal or illegal – such that their presence would not be reflected in the census numbers. In other words, an otherwise legal official act should be thwarted because some individuals would not comply.
So we cannot be unmindful of the political dimension to all of this. The left is doubtless salivating over the prospect that blue states with large numbers of immigrants of whatever stripe stand to add to their numbers in Congress.
To be sure, we would hardly dismiss the notion of political considerations in play on the Trump side. But the difference is that he is nominally exercising powers of his office and it would be frightening if his motives could become the basis for a collateral challenge.