Supreme Court to Consider Whether Census Must Count Illegal Immigrants in Allocating House Seats; After Backing Him in Halting Census Count

Supreme Court to Consider Whether Census Must Count Illegal Immigrants in Allocating House Seats:

The Supreme Court said Friday it would decide whether President Trump can exclude illegal immigrants from the census count used to determine congressional representation, setting an expedited schedule with arguments on Nov. 30.

In July, Mr. Trump issued an order that for the first time would exclude what it called “illegal aliens” from the decennial reapportionment of House seats among the states. The move would likely shift representation from urban areas and Democratic-trending states toward more rural and Republican-leaning states with smaller immigrant populations.

“Excluding these illegal aliens from the apportionment base is more consonant with the principles of representative democracy,” Mr. Trump’s order stated. “States adopting policies that encourage illegal aliens to enter this country and that hobble Federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws passed by the Congress should not be rewarded with greater representation in the House of Representatives.”

Mr. Trump appeared to target California in particular. The order said, “one State is home to more than 2.2 million illegal aliens.” Counting them “for the purpose of apportionment could result in the allocation of two or three more congressional seats than would otherwise be allocated,” it stated. —>READ MORE HERE

Supreme Court backs Trump in halting census count:

The Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday that halts the 2020 census count in place, delivering a victory to the Trump administration, which is rushing to complete the enumeration and submit the final results to Congress this year.

Reacting late Tuesday, the Census Bureau said it would cut off data collection on Thursday, though up until then residents can respond by phone or internet, and can still mail in census forms.

Activists, meanwhile, announced a last-minute push to get holdouts to respond.

The high court’s decision also reverberated around the political realm, with Democrats complaining that it was a blow to democracy.

The justices, in an unsigned order, halted a lower court’s injunction that had directed the census to continue taking responses through the end of October, saying it needed the extra time because of the coronavirus pandemic. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links to related stories:

Justices to weigh Trump census plan to exclude noncitizens

SCOTUS agrees to hear Trump census argument next month

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