Ruling on immigrant exclusion in census is delayed
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan to exclude immigrants in the country illegally from the calculations used to allocate seats in the House, saying it was premature.
The court’s ruling handed the Trump administration an interim victory, allowing it to continue to pursue an effort that could shift the allotment of both congressional seats and federal money to states that are older, whiter and typically more Republican.
“At present,” the court said in an unsigned opinion, “this case is riddled with contingencies and speculation that impede judicial review.”
“We express no view on the merits of the constitutional and related statutory claims presented,” the opinion said. “We hold only that they are not suitable for adjudication at this time.”
The court’s three liberal members dissented. They said the case was far enough along for a decision and that they would have ruled the plan unlawful.
“The plain meaning of the governing statutes, decades of historical practice and uniform interpretations from all three branches of government demonstrate that aliens without lawful status cannot be excluded from the decennial census solely on account of that status,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in a dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. “The government’s effort to remove them from the apportionment base is unlawful, and I believe this court should say so.”
“Where, as here, the government acknowledges it is working to achieve an allegedly illegal goal,” Breyer wrote, “this court should not decline to resolve the case simply because the government speculates that it might not fully succeed.”
Dale Ho, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents some of the challengers, said the ruling was a temporary setback. “This Supreme Court decision is only about timing, not the merits,” he said in a statement. “This ruling does not authorize President Trump’s goal of excluding undocumented immigrants from the census count used to apportion the House of Representatives.”
The practical effect of the ruling may be limited, because Census Bureau officials have said they may not be able to produce data on immigrants in the country illegally before President Donald Trump leaves office. When the case was argued last month, Jeffrey Wall, the acting solicitor general, acknowledged the situation was fluid and that the bureau may not be able to identify many of the immigrants.
By law, the Commerce Department is required to supply census information to the president by the end of the year, but it may not be able to meet that deadline. Wall indicated that the Census Bureau does have good data on the tens of thousands of immigrants in the country illegally held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but that number is almost certainly too small to change apportionment.