Current Events
Are You An American Citizen?
Why is this such a loaded question?
The nation’s highest court ruled against adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, but its fate is *still* unclear.
Why?
Current Events
Backstory
- 2018: Commerce Dept. says it will add a citizenship question to 2020 census. Critics say this will discourage respondents.
- June: Supreme Court sends the case back to lower courts, saying the reason provided by Trump admin for adding the question (to enforce a federal law aimed at protecting minority voters) seemed “contrived.”
Current Events
Latest
- Last Tuesday: DOJ said there would be “no citizenship question on 2020 census”; Census Bureau began printing questionnaires without the citizenship question.
- Last Wednesday: Pres. Trump said the gov’t is “absolutely moving forward” in its quest to put the question on the census.
- January 2020: Census counting starts.
Current Events
“I agree with him that the Supreme Court decision was wrong.”
Current Events
Why We Count
- Constitution mandates that gov’t count population every 10 years.
- Used to distribute the 435 seats in the House of Representatives and shape congressional & state districts.
- Many federal & state programs rely on data to distribute fund$ used to build schools, roads, etc.
Current Events
Also Worth Noting …
The Census Bureau is legally prohibited from disclosing any census information that identifies an individual or business – even to other federal agencies – until 72 years after it is collected.
EXCEPTION: Anonymous demographical information on neighborhoods.
Current Events
DID YOU KNOW? Since 1790, a citizenship question has been included in 10 of the 23 census questionnaires, however citizenship data from the whole population has not been collected since 1950.
Read
Sources
- Barr says he sees a legal path for census citizenship query
https://www.apnews.com/d3455cd57e744af08c5690fe1f0517ae - High Court Blocks Census Change but Absolves Ross of Violation
https://www.courthousenews.com/high-court-clears-ross-still-critical-of-census-change/ - What You Need To Know About The 2020 Census
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/31/707899218/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-2020-census - AP FACT CHECK: Trump distorts census, Obama-Biden record
https://www.apnews.com/17509da974e3439381dabd7f4e8942df - AP FACT CHECK: Trumpas disdain for traditional census
https://www.apnews.com/3496b291ed2b455bb2c9a513d2dbac27