Donald Trump Seeking Legal Rationale To Include Citizenship In Census

Washington: US President Donald Trump has indicated that he might seek an executive order to place a citizenship question on the census, one of several options his administration wass considering in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that stymied its push to do so. Meanwhile, a federal judge rejected the administration's request to freeze a lawsuit alleging the White House intended to discriminate against Hispanics with its drive to add the citizenship question, reports Efe news.

The judge's order on Friday followed a Justice Department filing in the case saying it was still exploring whether and how to continue fighting to add the question. "The Departments of Justice and Commerce have been asked to re-evaluate all available options following the Supreme Court's decision and whether the Supreme Court's decision (in a separate census case) would allow for a new decision to include the citizenship question," the lawyers wrote in a court filing. Trump speculated on Friday the administration could "maybe do an addendum after we get a positive decision".

The creation of political districts historically has been based on total population, rather than citizen population, and the Constitution requires "counting the whole number of persons in each State." The citizenship question hasn't been asked on the main census form since 1950, although the Census Bureau collects citizenship data through its American Community Survey. The survey, which some 3.5 million households are required to complete annually, is used by federal, state and local policy makers, along with businesses, nonprofits and academic researchers. (IANS)

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