The President and the Census

No. Voting was never connected to the enumeration clause in the US constitution. Here is what it actually says Article 1 section 2 Clause 3: "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." Women were counted and could not vote as were children. Enslaved families were counted as 3/5 and could not vote. Indians who freely crossed borders of the 13 states could not vote but were to be counted provided that they paid taxes. The enumeration is a part of Commerce because of the strongly held belief that if you paid taxes you had a right to be represented in congress. Citizenship related to living in the United States. No taxation without representation, that still echoes from the days of the American Revolution. Originalists would do well to remember that the 13 states which quickly became 15 states were in constant commercial exchange with the Nations of the original Americans and that these cross-border trade patterns – linking Native tribes with pioneers - were a vital part of the United States economy. Native peoples who paid taxes were to be counted. Today we see the deliberate attempt to not count people living in the US who pay taxes.

The Supreme Court said a citizenship question on the census is definitely legal, Constitutional and able to be added. But just to throw a monkeywrench in the works, Chief Justice Roberts insisted the Court reject the current reason articulated for again adding the question in... If the lazy lawyers had started work the day that ruling came down, they wouldn't have been so startled that the president was pursuing the question. What did they think Justice Roberts' multi opinions on the matter meant? Trump was right to fire them all and start with a fresh legal team, one that understands the data collection importance of continuing to document the emergence of non citizens in our country, as well as to get an accurate count of American (not dual) citizens. Why are the liberals, usually pro science, so afraid to begin gathering this information? Why does the liberal media insist on frightening non-citizens about the Census questions? Census workers -- who understand the confidentiality of their work and unlike the lawyers, take their jobs seriouslyl -- can help frightened non native speakers to be counted... We have to ask and start to honestly data collect and help people overcome their fears of being here, but not being here. Being a worker here, but with no citizenship protections. There is no shame in waiting for an asylum hearing, and Census workers can help others be counted and overcome the shame of overstaying their visas, or never showing for the court hearings.

Non-citizens are not Americans and don't deserve aid paid for by American taxpayers for American citizens, and therefore should not be counted in an American census used to divvy up federal funds. Simple stuff. If you're advocating for the federal gov to be blind to citizenship status while allocating federal funds, you are advocating for non-citizens receiving public aid. And you would be in a tiny minority on that.

What an outstanding interview with Adam Liptak, one of the most insightful and perceptive reporters anywhere. His remarks toward the end were especially disheartening, if not downright chilling. They included, in part: "The damage to the integrity of the census may already be done ... because he has turned the census into something that some groups think is radioactive, that you don't want to be associated with, because no good will come of it for you." The "he," of course, is Donald Trump. By injecting fear and intimidation into something as fundamental as the census and sowing the seeds of distortion in the numbers that have crucial impact on our constitutional framework, he is once again wantonly tearing at the very fabric of our democracy in ways that will affect the country for 10 years and well beyond. In just 30 months, the harm he has done to our society, our national psyche and our governmental norms is already incalculable and previously unthinkable. Given his politically motivated assault on the bedrock census itself, the question becomes how much of his malevolence will be irreversible.

The census additionally serves as a means of collecting demographic information used for a variety of purposes. There have been 23 decennial censuses since 1790. All but one be-tween 1820 and 2000 asked at least some of the population about their citizenship or place of birth. The question was asked of all households until 1950, and was asked of a fraction of the population on an alternative long-form questionnaire between 1960 and 2000. In 2010, the citizenship question was removed from the census. This from the Supreme Court hearing last October. So who's weaponizing the Census? It would appear the Obama Administration..in order to hijack 10 Electoral Votes and Congressional House Seats towards Blue states in the 2010 Census. That's criminal. That's unAmerican. That's illegal, immoral and just plain wrong.