Here is a very thorough summary of the issues by Amy Howe at scotusblog.com.
www.scotusblog.com/…
This is a short diary, but I wanted to put this up so that people interested in the topic would be aware that the Court has scheduled a date for oral argument, and will be deciding this issue in time for the decision to effect the printing of the census questionnaires.
I would encourage people to read Amy’s article. There are more legal issues in this question than people might imagine, and the Court may find one to latch onto rather than the central question at hand. In summary, the plaintiffs argue that adding the citizenship question will deter some Hispanic families, and others, from answering the census, leading to an undercount. There seems to be little disagreement that adding the citizenship question would result in an undercount of some amount. The undercount would deprive some communities, with large concentrations of undocumented immigrants, to potentially lose seats in Congress and federal funds that are population based, or targeting to assist minorities. The administration argues that the citizenship question was on the census forms from 1820-1950, and is well within the legal right of the Commerce Department to add it back.
Mary McCord has recently posted this piece at scotusblog. McCloud is co-counsel to the House of Representatives on this matter and has filed an amicus brief in support of the respondents.
www.scotusblog.com/…
In another scotusblog article John Baker writes about Questioning Citizenship versus Questioning the Question. Interesting, and well worth reading.
www.scotusblog.com/...