https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-census/trump-fumes-as-supreme-court-blocks-census-citizenship-question-idUSKCN1TS1BL
As part of the ruling issued on the last day of the court’s current term, the justices sent the issue back to the Commerce Department for it to decide whether to provide a different rationale for requiring people taking part in the census to declare whether they are citizens.
The clock is ticking, with the administration previously saying that census forms needed to be printed in the coming days. A determination from a federal agency normally would take weeks or months.
“There is really no time. And if the administration tries to rush it that is clearly a red flag,” said Dale Ho, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the challengers.
Jason Torchinsky, a lawyer and Republican redistricting strategist, said the deadline could be extended to the fall, which would enable the Supreme Court to review the new decision.
“They don’t need to redo the entire administrative process, they just need to better justify what they did, in a way that can satisfy the Supreme Court,” Torchinsky said.
Justice Department spokeswoman Kelly Laco said the administration is disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision. “The Department of Justice will continue to defend this administration’s lawful exercises of executive power,” Laco said in a statement.
The census, required by the U.S. Constitution, is used to allot seats in the U.S. House and distribute some $800 billion in federal funds. Opponents have said the question would instill fear in immigrant households that the information would be shared with law enforcement, deterring them from taking part.
Further muddying the waters, there is also ongoing litigation in lower courts over recently unearthed evidence that the challengers have said reveals an illegal discriminatory motive by the administration for adding the question, which the high court could yet weigh in on.
The court ruled against the challengers in a separate 5-4 vote, with all the conservative justices in the majority, that the U.S. Constitution does not in theory prevent the administration or a future one from adding a citizenship question.
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