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A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 24 april 2019
Justices seem ready to OK asking citizenship on census

Continued from Front

However, over 80 minutes
in a packed courtroom,
neither Roberts nor Kava-
naugh appeared to share
the concern of the lower
court judges who ruled
against the administration.
Kavanaugh, the court’s
newest member and an
appointee of President
Donald Trump, suggested
Congress could change
the law if it so concerned
that the accuracy of the
once-a-decade popula-
tion count will suffer. “Why
doesn’t Congress prohibit
the asking of the citizenship
question?” Kavanaugh
asked near the end of the
morning session.
Kavanaugh and the other
conservatives were mostly
silent when Solicitor Gen-
eral Noel Francisco, the ad-
ministration’s top Supreme
Court lawyer, defended
Commerce Secretary Wil-
bur Ross’ decision to add
the citizenship question. New York State Attorney General Letitia James, center, flanked by Dale Ho, left, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union,
Ross has said the Justice and New York City Census Director Julie Menin, speaks to reporters after the Supreme Court heard arguments over the Trump
Department wanted the administration’s plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Associated Press
citizenship data, the de-
tailed information it would voters live, to improve en- Rights Act. Lower courts bara Underwood, who was tary has wide discretion in
produce on where eligible forcement of the Voting found that Ross’ explana- representing states and cit- designing the census ques-
tion was a pretext for add- ies that sued over Ross’ de- tionnaire and that courts
ing the question, noting cision. should not be second-
that he had consulted ear- Underwood and American guessing his action. States,
ly in his tenure with Stephen Civil Liberties Union lawyer cities and rights groups that
Bannon, Trump’s former Dale Ho said the evidence sued over the issue don’t
top political adviser and showed the data would be even have the right to go
immigration hardliner Kris less accurate. Including a into federal court, the ad-
Kobach, the former Kansas citizenship question would ministration says. It also says
secretary of state. “harm the secretary’s stat- the citizenship question is
The liberal justices pep- ed purpose of Voting Rights plainly constitutional be-
pered Francisco with ques- Act enforcement,” Ho said. cause it has been asked on
tions about the administra- Census Bureau experts many past censuses and
tion plan, but they would have concluded that the continues to be used on
lack the votes to stop it census would produce a smaller, annual population
without support from at more accurate picture of surveys.
least one conservative jus- the U.S. population without Gorsuch, also a Trump ap-
tice. a citizenship question be- pointee, also noted that
“This is a solution in search cause people might be re- many other countries in-
of a problem,” Justice So- luctant to say if they or oth- clude citizenship questions
nia Sotomayor, the court’s ers in their households are on their censuses.
lone Hispanic member, not citizens. Federal law re- Douglas Letter, a lawyer
said of Ross’ decision. quires people to complete representing the House of
Justice Elena Kagan the census accurately and Representatives, said the
chimed in that “you can’t fully. census is critically impor-
read this record without The Supreme Court is hear- tant to the House, which
sensing that this need was ing the case on a tight apportions its seats among
a contrived one.” timeframe, even though no the states based on the
Roberts appeared to have federal appeals court has results. “Anything that un-
a different view of the in- yet to weigh in. A decision dermines the accuracy of
formation the citizenship is expected by late June, in the actual enumeration is
question would produce. time to print census forms immediately a problem,”
“You think it wouldn’t help for the April 2020 popula- Letter said, quoting from
voting rights enforce- tion count. the provision of the Consti-
ment?” Roberts asked New The administration argues tution that mandates a de-
York Solicitor General Bar- that the commerce secre- cennial census.q