Donald Trump has been pushing to get a citizenship question installed in the upcoming U.S. Census, but the U.S. Supreme Court has told the president not to go through with it.
Despite the court’s ruling, Trump is getting ready to include the question in the next Census and has finally revealed why he wants to include it.
Trump told reporters on Friday that the “number one” reason he wants to add the question is for the drawing of congressional districts.
Experts say he just showed his hand – or, as some said, “gave up the game.”
Trump doesn’t seem to know the rule of law or at least care for it. If he is trying to include a citizenship question for the drawing of congressional districts, he might be surprised to know that the U.S. Constitution makes clear the Census must count everyone living in the United States – not just citizens. And congressional districts are to be based on the number of people living in an area – not just the number of U.S. citizens.
“If you look at the history of our country, it’s almost always been asked,” Trump said Friday of the citizenship question on the decennial census.
That’s not true. But of course, Trump likes to spread falsehoods that his base eats up. It has been asked on small, annual updates, but for many decades not on the constitutionally-mandated Census.
“We’re fighting very hard against the system,” Trump said, telegraphing to his base that considers him an outsider fighting for white conservatives.
“You need it for many reasons, number one for Congress, for districting,” Trump said, which is entirely false – unless his goal is to undercount minorities and non-citizen immigrants.
WATCH: Pres. Trump comments about battle over census and more before departing for Bedminster, NJ. https://t.co/V2rtKCMNfP
— ABC News (@ABC) July 5, 2019
Here’s what experts are saying:
Trump on Friday said the "number one" reason for adding a citizenship question was for the drawing of electoral districts, which is what those challenging the move have said all along
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) July 5, 2019
Trump says citizenship has to be asked on the census to determine congressional districts. Actually, districts are drawn up based on total population, not the number of citizens, a practice upheld by the Supreme Court as recently as 2016.
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 5, 2019
Pleased @realDonaldTrump has made it even harder now to include the citizenship question on #Census2020. Drawing congressional districts based on "citizens," rather than "persons," is unconstitutional. Trump has now stated the real reason, and that reason is unconstitutional. https://t.co/oaWLH0yO1o
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 5, 2019
Trump gives away the game here.
Opponents' argument is that GOP will use the new citizenship Q to draw districts using that data — a potential big boon to GOP. https://t.co/MrL0PfbIXo
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) July 5, 2019
This really gives up the game.
Redrawing Congressional maps based on citizenship only was exactly why Thomas Hofeller, a political operative and expert in diluting minority voting rights, wanted the Q added https://t.co/97847BzuKK https://t.co/MBMaEnOyX9
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 5, 2019
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