Citizenship question on 2020 census? SCOTUS says it's complicated

The nine Justices sent the issue back to the lower court on Thursday, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining liberal colleagues in a 5-4 decision. In a mixed opinion, Roberts said that although the government’s request is constitutional, the administration would nonetheless have to provide a better rationale for introducing the citizenship question on the census.

While the constitution permits the Department of Commerce to “inquire about citizenship on the census questionnaire,” Roberts wrote, “if judicial review is to be more than an empty ritual, it must demand something better than the explanation offered for the action taken in this case.”

On those grounds, the case was returned to the federal district court, but the ruling leaves little time for the administration to re-argue its case, as the Census Bureau is supposed to have its questionnaires prepared by next week and the Supreme Court has retired for summer recess.

President Donald Trump responded by calling the decision “totally ridiculous” and saying he would try to delay the 2020 census while the matter was sorted out in the courts.

“I have asked the lawyers if they can delay the Census, no matter how long, until the United States Supreme Court is given additional information from which it can make a final and decisive decision on this very critical matter,” the president tweeted.

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