July 17, Lackland Bloom, an SMU law professor, for a piece that offers context and commentary on the SCOTUS ruling against the Trump Administration regarding a citizenship question in the Census. Published online in the Orange County Register: http://bit.ly/2StdNQE
In the much publicized case of Department of Commerce v New York (the Census Case), decided on the final day of the Supreme Court’s most recent term, the Court, by a 5-4 vote, decided that the Secretary of Commerce could not add a question pertaining to citizenship to the 2020 census.
As with most Supreme Court decisions, media coverage focused on the specific result in the case, which was seen, and celebrated by many, as a defeat for President Trump. The result in the case may or may not have long term significance.
However, the case presented the Court with a very important opportunity of which it failed to take advantage. The majority invalidated the addition of the citizenship question to the census on the ground that the Secretary of Commerce’s explanation for the addition of the question, aiding in enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, was pretextual.
Continue reading “SCOTUS caught imagining ‘illegitimate motives’ in census case”