Supreme Court rules citizenship question will not be in 2020 census forms

The Supreme Court decided Thursday to stop President Trump’s administration from asking people about their citizenship in the national 2020 census questionnaire, sending the case back to lower courts for further examination.

Chief Justice Roberts said the 5-4 decision came after the Trump administration did not adequately justify wanting to ask people about their citizenship.

Some local Hispanic immigrants said they didn’t see the value in a citizenship question.

“I don’t think it matters because the census is for finding out how many people are here,” said Oscar Ornelas who runs a grocery store in Colorado Springs. “The citizenship status is besides the point.”

Virginia Aguirre, a food salesperson and distributor, said that people living in the country and working hard should be considered citizens.

“Knowing whether someone is a citizen or not isn’t necessary,” Aguirre said in Spanish. “The moment we’re here in this country we consider ourselves citizens.”

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross filed a memo in 2018 to reinstate a question asking people about their citizenship status. Multiple state attorneys general, including Colorado’s, filed a lawsuit in response.

Previous census forms have asked people in U.S. households about their citizenship status and place of birth.

However, the Supreme Court’s opinion in more recent cases has stated that asking questions on citizenship “would discourage noncitizens from responding to the census and lead to a less accurate count of total population.”

Roberto Ortega, a firefighter, said he shared that sentiment but said a citizenship question could be useful.

“I think the question would be important so we can know how many people need to obtain residency or legal citizenship,” Ortega said. “The only problem I see with the questions is that many people would be worried.”

President Trump tweeted that he has “asked the lawyers if they can delay the Census” until the Supreme Court can make a “final and decisive decision on this very critical matter.”

A census is required is every 10 years by the Constitution, revealing population counts in cities and counties throughout the United States. This data is used not only to apportion representatives but also to allocate federal funds to the States.

The decision came as the census questionnaire needed to be finished for printing by the end of June 2019.