Will the Supreme Court Comes to Its Census? DIG This

A single citizenship question for the 2020 census could take away congressional seats and electoral votes in presidential elections from blue states such as California and Illinois, and move those votes to states such as North Carolina. That’s because the question will undercount not only unlawful immigrants but also American citizens who live with that person.

Case-in-point: Mom and Dad are unlawful immigrants and have two children born in the U.S. They won’t answer the census to avoid being deported. Their two American kids won’t be counted, either.

The idea for returning the citizenship question— it was last used in 1950, when the Walter-McCarrarn immigration act had racial restrictions on immigration to the U.S.— came from a GOP strategist. He died recently.

His estranged daughter found computer drives at his home. They show the plan to suppress Democratic votes by using the question. The computer also shows how he peddled the idea to the Trump administration.

Yesterday, a federal judge reopened the case. Basically, the judge is saying that the first trial in the matter involved perjured testimony as to how the question got on the census form.

Linda Greenhouse, in the New York Times, suggests that the Supreme Court use its “DIG” procedure to dismiss the case before issuing a ruling. DIG is “dismissed as improvidently granted.” It’s an oops-button the court can hit if it realizes it is about to make a mistake.

Greenhouse’s point is that if the Court goes forward with a ruling that allows the census question, and much of the American public realizes it’s a crass power grab, the Court will be damaged—and in time, the Court will pay a price by having the number of justices expanded to neutralize its influence.