Census citizenship rationale exposed as contrived
Reporting and findings
- ruled unlawful
The Supreme Court held that the Enumeration Clause permitted a citizenship question and that the Secretary's decision was supported by evidence apart from its explanation, but concluded that the stated Voting Rights Act rationale appeared contrived and affirmed remand to the agency.
- Supreme Court of the United States: Department of Commerce v. New York, 588 U.S. 752 (2019)Syllabus at 1-5; opinion at 11-29
Summary and current status
The Supreme Court did not prohibit a citizenship question, but held that the stated Voting Rights Act rationale did not match the administrative record and required remand.
Final Supreme Court judgment; the challenged agency decision was remanded.
People and organizations
- 2020 census citizenship-question decisionchallenged census action
- Donald J. Trumppresident overseeing the challenged census decision
Relationships in this file
- Donald J. Trumpoversaw challenged census decision2020 census citizenship-question decision
Figures
Census citizenship-question decision1 action Calculation details
- Basis
- Observed
- Population
- The Commerce Department's 2018 decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census
- Period
- 2019-06-27 to 2019-06-27
- As of
- 2019-06-27
- Method
- Count this decision once following the Supreme Court's rejection of its stated rationale and remand. Do not count the separate plaintiffs, appeals, or later proceedings as additional actions.
- Uncertainty
- An indexed action, not a comprehensive count of presidential litigation; the Court did not prohibit every possible citizenship question.