Big fight over whether the Trump Administration can ask census respondents about their citizenship. The census is used to determine who gets seats in the House of Representatives. So the real issue becomes who are we counting them for?
If the House of Representatives is supposed to represent the citizens living in a district, then we need to know how many of the people responding to the census are citizens. They’re the only ones who should count in determining proportional representation.
If the House is supposed to represent all the residents of a district, then we don’t care about citizenship.
I strongly suspect this is a holdover from slavery days. Slaves didn’t count as full citizens for purposes of proportional representation. And neither do illegal aliens. But people who think they will pick up votes, want them to.
I doubt counting foreigners was the intent of the framers of the Constitution. I foubt counting illegal aliens was the intent of the Voting Rights Act. I think Americans all along, have wanted the House to represent the citizens who reside in the district, not everybody wandering through the district.
I don’t think the court should be meddling with that intent. Add the question.
Joe doakes

I coudln’t agree more. Of all the great scams that Big Left has foisted on us, positing open borders as “kindness” is the most cynical of all.