Citizenship Required on 2020 census

[*bfine32*]

(03-30-2018, 08:57 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: The point of the lawsuit is that the Constitution states "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." Now, the three-fifths part has been amended out, but the rest remains valid. This, according to the Census Bureau's own website, means counting every resident, not legal resident. If they are going to make a change that is known going in will reduce the response rate, then that is not following the constitutional mandate.

You don't want to include residents not here illegally? Amend the Constitution, because right now the courts have ruled that all residents be counted based on what is in the document.

So are you saying the Constitution prohibits asking this question?

[Belsnickel]

(03-30-2018, 01:11 PM)bfine32 Wrote: So are you saying the Constitution prohibits asking this question?

I'm saying that is their argument.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(03-30-2018, 01:20 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I'm saying that is their argument.

I'm not seeing how you make that argument.  The point of a census is to get information on the people who reside where you are conducting the census.  Citizenship status (yes/no) is just another piece of information and is no more personal than asking how many children live in the home.  Does it ask if you're in the country legally or just if the person is a citizen?

[Belsnickel]

(03-30-2018, 02:12 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I'm not seeing how you make that argument.  The point of a census is to get information on the people who reside where you are conducting the census.  Citizenship status (yes/no) is just another piece of information and is no more personal than asking how many children live in the home.  Does it ask if you're in the country legally or just if the person is a citizen?

It will only ask the citizen question. Immigrants already don't respond to the census for fear of persecution based on their status, by adding the citizenship question it will reduce the response rate of both legal and illegal residents. The point of the census, constitutionally, is not for information on those people in the area. It is only for a headcount.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(03-30-2018, 02:29 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: It will only ask the citizen question. Immigrants already don't respond to the census for fear of persecution based on their status, by adding the citizenship question it will reduce the response rate of both legal and illegal residents. The point of the census, constitutionally, is not for information on those people in the area. It is only for a headcount.

I completely understand your point and the information you're providing.  My counter is that anyone choosing to opt out of the census is making the choice for themselves.  On its own it is an innocuous question, especially as it does not make a distinction between the legal status of the person's residency.  While I certainly agree with you that this may prevent people from answering the census out of fear I do not see a legal basis for challenging it.  You can't even use the arguments cited against voter ID laws, that they cost money and therefore amount to a poll tax, as the census costs nothing to complete or submit.