Presidential non-census

It should have been a birthday gift to America: In the face of last week’s Supreme Court ruling declaring “contrived” the government’s stated reason for including a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, it appeared the anti-immigrant Trump administration’s attempt to scare away newcomers had fallen apart.

On Wednesday, the Commerce Department conceded the collapse of its year-long campaign of deception and obfuscation in the 2020 headcount.

But then came the tweeting from the man in the White House.

Despite both the Commerce and Justice Departments making official statements that questionnaires had begun printing without the citizenship question, Trump tweeted otherwise.

That action forced George Hazel — the Maryland federal judge overseeing the case

— to call all parties to get some clarity. Two flummoxed DOJ lawyers contradicted each other, with a weak admission that the agency had been instructed (which apparently means being given a tweeted order) to try to find a way to include the citizenship question that was consistent with the Supreme Court ruling.

That, by all lights, truly seems impossible, but orders are orders.

Hazel demanded DOJ show by Friday 2 p.m. whether the official policy of the U.S. is to continue fighting the high court’s ruling — or to unequivocally state that the questionnaires will be printed without the citizenship question and without further contradictory statements from the administration.

Happy Fourth of July, America. Your 243rd birthday present is chaos, courtesy of the president of the United States.