About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (July 3, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbagd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: a Congressional ______ **Research Service The Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census Updated July 3, 2019 UPDATE: On July 2, 2019, the Department ofJustice announced that the 2020 census form will not include a citizenship question. This development likely renders moot all pending challenges to the Department of Commerce's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court's decision in Department of Commerce v. New York could have important implications for administrative law and election law, as well as for any future effort to add a citizenship question to the census. The original post from June 28, 2019, is below. On June 27, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Department of Commerce v. New York-the case involving several challenges to the decision by the Secretary of the Department of Commerce (Commerce), Wilbur Ross, to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Chief Justice Roberts authored the opinion for a majority of the Court, though different combinations of Justices comprised the majority for different parts of the opinion. In that opinion, the Supreme Court held that the Secretary's decision did not violate the Enumeration Clause of the U.S. Constitution or the Census Act, and that the Secretary's decision was supported by evidence before the agency. However, the Chief Justice-joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan-concluded that the Secretary's decision was unlawful because the reason he gave for adding the citizenship question was not the actual reason for his decision. The Court thus instructed that the case be sent back to Commerce to allow the Secretary to provide a non- pretextual justification for his decision. But the window for the agency to provide that justification is closing: the United States has represented that the deadline for finalizing the 2020 census questionnaire is the end of June 2019 while the plaintiffs have suggested that the deadline is the end of October 2019. Moreover, at least one ongoing lawsuit challenging the Secretary's decision involves a legal argument not addressed by the Supreme Court's decision, thus presenting another possible barrier to the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census. This Sidebar provides an overview of the legal framework governing the census and the legal challenges to Commerce's decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. The Sidebar then discusses the Supreme Court's decision, identifies issues left unresolved by the decision, and addresses potential considerations for Congress. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10319 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most