The Supreme Court delivered a blow to President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday when they blocked a question regarding citizenship from appearing on the 2020 Census.
The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 on the decision, with Justice John Roberts joining Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor in the majority.
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas dissented.
As the Wall Street Journal notes, the decision may not be definitive moving forward. The Supreme Court sent the case back to lower courts. However, there is a possibility that the end of this month could mark a deadline for printing the census, according to CNN, which could leave the citizenship question off the census.
The question as to whether the 2020 Census would ask about citizenship has been criticized for more than a year, with opponents warning that asking about citizenship status would result in an under-count.
The census has major ramifications. The data gleaned from it is used to figure out how many congressional seats states get and how to allocate federal funds.
Many Democrats running for the party’s presidential nomination responded positively to the news of the Supreme Court decision regarding the 2020 Census.
“YES — this is a victory for our democracy. But the fight is not over, so let’s keep working to make sure everyone is counted,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) wrote on Thursday morning.
YES — this is a victory for our democracy. But the fight is not over, so let’s keep working to make sure everyone is counted. https://t.co/vqjDFjgiVg
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) June 27, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasted Trump in his reaction to the decision.
“Trump lied about his motivations, and five justices called him on it. His proposal to add a citizenship question to the census was nothing but a racist attempt to disenfranchise communities of color,” the senator wrote on Twitter.
Trump lied about his motivations, and five justices called him on it. His proposal to add a citizenship question to the census was nothing but a racist attempt to disenfranchise communities of color. https://t.co/OPZfQbpgNK
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 27, 2019
Other candidates including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), also reacted to the news as of Thursday morning.
You can read all of CNN’s report about the 2020 Census here, and all of the Wall Street Journal report here.
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