Roberts may back census citizen query

The Supreme Court appeared poised Tuesday to back President Trump’s plan to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census — a move that advocates say could cost New York one or more seats in Congress and billions in federal funding.

Conservative justices peppered lawyers challenging Trump with questions at a hearing on the administration’s appeal of lower court rulings striking down the question, which critics say will result in a dramatic undercount of Latinos and other minorities.

The crucial once-a-decade count is used to determine how many congressional seats each state gets and divvy up federal aid to states.

Chief Justice John Roberts seemed sympathetic to Trump’s argument that the government has a right to ask the question.

Roberts challenged New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood, who sued the administration over the plan to add the question. The jurist also said it is “quite common” for census questions to capture demographic information.

Not all observers thought Roberts tipped his hand at the hearing.

Thomas Wolf, a lawyer at the Brennan Center at NYU law school, was in the courtroom and noted that the top jurist asked harsh questions of both sides. He added that the court might rule narrowly that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated administration law without weighing in on the constitutional questions raised by the case.

Under the constitution, the census is supposed to count all people living in the United States not just citizens. Trump says the question will help enforce the Voting Rights Act by yielding a more accurate count of Americans.

But Democrats and immigrant-rights advocates say it’s a shameless Republican effort to weaponize what is supposed to be an impartial tally of all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration status.

Trump’s hardline immigration policies have inspired widespread fear among immigrants and Latinos that participating in the census might open them up to deportation or prosecution on unrelated charges.

“President Trump’s goal is to spread fear in immigrant communities to discourage people from participating in the census,” said City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (DLower East Side). “The damage is already being done (but) we’re going to fight because there is so much at stake.”