House Democrats on Monday asked the Supreme Court to reject President Trump’s bid to exclude illegal immigrants from the U.S. census count, which determines each state’s share of seats in Congress.
The legal filing was made in support of the State of New York’s lawsuit challenging Mr. Trump’s July memo declaring that it was the policy of the United States to exclude from the count “aliens are not in a lawful immigration status.”
The Democrats said the president’s memorandum leaving illegal immigrants out of the census count is unconstitutional because federal law requires every “human being” living in the United states to be part of the census without regard to legal status.
Under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the federal government is required to reapportion congressional seats every 10 years through the census.
But the Democrats said all individuals residing in the country should be counted because the 14th Amendment doesn’t tie being counted to citizenship status.
“The census is a pillar of our democracy, enshrined by our Founders to ensure that all people who live in America, regardless of citizenship, are counted and represented,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement announcing the filing.
“Yet, despite the Supreme Court’s rejection of the administration’s unlawful citizenship question last year, the president has continuously worked to undermine the foundations of our democracy while sowing chaos with the census,” she continued.
In October, the Supreme Court accepted the case for review and scheduled oral arguments for Nov. 30. The court will weigh whether the president has the authority to exclude individuals unlawfully residing in the U.S. from the census.
A three-judge panel in September blocked the Trump administration’s effort to omit illegal immigrants from the count.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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