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20 ¦ DECEMBER 21, 2020 NEWS

Justices Won’t Block Trump Plan to Exclude
Unauthorized Immigrants From Redistricting

By Marcia Coyle

Adivided U.S. Supreme Court
on Friday dismissed a chal-
lenge to President Donald
Trump’s plan to exclude undocu-
mented immigrants from his
calculations of apportionment of
U.S. House seats, a win for an ad-
ministration that has advanced
numerous anti-immigrant policy
and regulatory measures.
“At present, this case is riddled
with contingencies and specula-
tion that impede judicial review,”
the court said in an unsigned
opinion. “Any prediction how
the executive branch might even- Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court.
Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
tually implement this general
statement of policy is ‘no more than conjecture’ with any possible information on the number of
at this time.’” The court said it was expressing no undocumented immigrants included in the cen-
views on the merits of the constitutional challenge sus so that Trump can exclude them from the
to Trump’s plan. apportionment base.

“At the end of the day, the standing and ripeness Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights
inquiries both lead to the conclusion that judicial Project, argued the case for the challengers.
resolution of this dispute is premature,” the court
wrote. “This Supreme Court decision is only about tim-
ing, not the merits,” Ho said in a statement. “This
Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justices Sonia ruling does not authorize President Trump’s goal
Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented, saying the of excluding undocumented immigrants from
case was ripe for judicial review. the census count used to apportion the House of
Representatives. The legal mandate is clear—ev-
“The plain meaning of the governing statutes, ery single person counts in the census, and every
decades of historical practice, and uniform inter- single person is represented in Congress. If this
pretations from all three branches of government policy is ever actually implemented, we’ll be right
demonstrate that aliens without lawful status back in court challenging it.”
cannot be excluded from the decennial census The case, Trump v. New York and New York Im-
solely on account of that status,” Breyer wrote. migration Council, is the second time the Trump
“The government’s effort to remove them from administration has had to defend a policy that,
the apportionment base is unlawful, and I believe its opponents contend, is intended to dilute or
this court should say so.” negate the role of undocumented immigrants in
The ruling, which vacates a lower court injunc- the 2020 census. Last year, the justices, dividing
tion against the administration’s plan, means that 5-4, rejected a plan to place a citizenship ques-
the secretary of commerce must provide Trump tion on the census because the administration

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