Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Critical Census Case

FEATURING KELLY PERCIVAL – Hearings began at the Supreme Court on Tuesday over a critical question of whether the government can ask citizenship status of residents as part of the 2020 US Census. So far the conservatives on the court – who hold a majority – appear inclined to include the question.

The Trump administration has made including the citizenship question a central part of its anti-immigrant agenda. Critics have fought back saying it will sow fear in communities and is deliberately designed to undercount undocumented residents. States are appropriated federal funds based on population and those states with high numbers of undocumented residents may lose funding.

Eighteen states, a number of US cities, and immigrant rights organizations have led the legal challenge to the inclusion of the citizenship question in what is being considered the Supreme Court’s highest profile case this term.

Kelly Percival, Counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program.

**This segment was originally broadcast on April 23, 2019.