Trump seeks help on immigration
Justices to hear case regarding census count
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will hear oral arguments in the case of whether undocumented immigrants should be counted as part of the most recent census enumeration – a count that is used to determine states’ House of Representatives delegation, electoral votes and allotment of federal funds.
In what could be his final battle with the high court, this case is President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to crack down on immigration in the U.S. After three losses in lower courts and with even the Census Bureau balking, his latest case before the Supreme Court appears to be a long shot.
Finalized census numbers are due to the president Dec. 31,. He then has 10 days to report to Congress on the number of House seats allocated to each state.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is ending his tumultuous time in office the same way he started it: cracking down on immigrants and asking for help from the Supreme Court. But this time, his motive is more political than ideological.
The president is seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from census calculations used to apportion House of Representatives seats and electoral votes, a policy that could impact distribution of federal funds. The court will hear arguments Monday and has promised to rule by year’s end.
If the justices hand Trump a lameduck victory – or even if they just vacate a federal district court ruling against him – the result could be a loss of House seats in traditionally “blue” states, led by California.
Trump has had limited success defending his immigration policies at the high court. It took three tries for the court to uphold his travel ban from a handful of predominantly Muslim nations. Other restrictions aimed at deterring immigrants, blocking asylum-seekers and building a wall on the southern border have won temporary reprieves.
His efforts to end an Obama administration program protecting young immigrants from deportation and to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 census were struck down in 5-4 rulings written by Chief Justice John Roberts.
“This is a way to try to tilt the electoral map for the next decade on his way out the door,” said Dale Ho, director of the voting rights project at the American Civil Liberties Union, who will oppose the administration in court.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ census report to the president is due Dec. 31. Trump has 10 days after that to report to Congress on the number of House seats allocated to each state.
In broader policy terms, the case puts one last exclamation point on the Trump administration’s more than 400 policy changes aimed at shrinking both legal and illegal immigration channels into the United States.
Trump’s not-so-secret weapons on the court include three justices confirmed during his watch: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. But the court’s conservatives put special emphasis on the Constitution and the text of federal statutes, and those call for all persons to be included in the census count, regardless of immigration status.
“Nothing in the text or history of the Constitution or Census Act suggests that (the Trump administration) may treat millions of people who undisputedly live here as if they were not here,” New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood argued in court papers.
Trump ignited his latest immigration battle in July with a memorandum directing the Commerce Department to conduct a second census count, one that excludes undocumented immigrants when it comes to apportioning the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.