Breaking: Census Citizenship Question Comes Back to Life After Trump Announcement to Reporters at White House
President Donald Trump said Friday he could issue an executive order to ensure that the citizenship question is included on the 2020 census.
The president’s comments came more than a week after the Supreme Court ruled June 27 that the Trump administration’s attempts to add the census question must be further reviewed by lower courts.
While the ruling did not decide on the constitutionality of the citizenship question itself, most observers originally expected it meant the question would not appear on the 2020 census.
“Are you going to issue an executive order on the census?” a reporter asked Trump on Friday from the South Lawn of the White House.
That’s a possibility, the president replied.
“We’re thinking about doing that. It’s one of the ways, we have four or five ways we can do it,” Trump said. “It’s one of the ways that we’re thinking about doing it very seriously.”
“We’re doing well on the census,” he added.
Q: “Are you going to issue an executive order on the census?”
President Trump: “We’re thinking about doing that. It’s one of the ways, we have four or five ways we can do it. It’s one of the ways we’re thinking of doing it.” pic.twitter.com/vp93GpFKQA
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 5, 2019
Trump then noted one of the ways the citizenship question could be included on the census.
“We can also add an addition on so we can start the printing now and maybe do an addendum after we get a positive decision,” he said. “So we’re working on a lot of things, including an executive order.”
As noted above, the Supreme Court did not decide on the constitutionality of the citizenship question. Instead, the Court said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had provided inadequate rationale for why the question should be included.
“[T]he decision to reinstate a citizenship question cannot be adequately explained in terms of [the Department of Justice’s] request for improved citizenship data to better enforce the VRA,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the Court’s majority.
“Several points, considered together, reveal a significant mismatch between the decision the Secretary made and the rationale he provided,” he added.
After the ruling was announced, DOJ and Commerce Department officials seemed to suggest they would move forward without the citizenship question.
But Trump said this week his administration would not be giving up.
“The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE!” the president tweeted on Wednesday.
“We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.”
The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2019
“So important for our Country that the very simple and basic ‘Are you a Citizen of the United States?’ question be allowed to be asked in the 2020 Census,” Trump added in a Thursday tweet.
“Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice are working very hard on this, even on the 4th of July!”
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