How Will Trump Defy the Supreme Court Census Ruling? (UPDATED)
Aaaand the Stable Genius has changed his mind. Reportedly.
News reports this morning indicate the president is preparing an executive order about including a 2020 census question asking about citizenship. He has two paths to take.
Optimists say there will be an executive memorandum, a document essentially just saying the decision was wrong. This is the legal equivalent of shaking your fist and yelling “Darn it.”
Pessimists say it will be an executive order, amounting to openly refusing to recognize a judicial check on presidential authority. This is the legal equivalent of flipping the bird at the court, saying the question will appear, and daring them to do something about it.
The Supreme Court ruled the rationale for putting the citizenship question on the census was contrived and therefore not valid.
(Justice Roberts’ decision did not say the question couldn’t be included; it said the process for doing it was not correct.)
I’m going to hold back on a longer posting on this topic until I see what’s really happening.
This is likely the first of several posts today. I want to see what really happens, as opposed to speculating any further.
I’ll also write about the history of the census, its use as a (racist) political football and the one time in our history when a president (hint: he’s Trump’s favorite) defied a supreme court order.
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