On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for United States Department of Commerce v. New York in order to rule on the legality of including a citizenship question on the 2020 census form. After hearing 80 minutes of arguments, the judges appeared split 5-4 in favor of inclusion. This would be a huge victory for red-state Republicans, who suspect census over-counting in pro-Democrat “sanctuary” precincts. Meanwhile, Democrats bemoan the possibility of 6.5 million non-citizens throwing away the census form rather than risking ICE agents and deportation.
Law-abiding and tax-paying citizens shouldn’t even want 6.5 million non-citizens counted. America is a sovereign nation and cannot conflate illegal aliens with US citizens. Without documentation, shadow residents have no more legal standing than foreign tourists. Our government is based on democratic principles, and non-citizens should not affect the Electoral College. Congress is based on the principles of republicanism, and non-citizens are not entitled to representation in the House. It is time to stop debasing US citizenship and abetting a shadow nation of undocumented aliens.
THE CENSUS IS A SAFEGUARD FOR THE PEOPLE – The framers of the constitution mandated a census to prevent 18thcentury England’s “rotten boroughs” that allowed some members of Parliament to represent a seven-person district. America’s founding fathers wanted the House of Representatives to be the “people’s house” with the distribution of seats fairly awarded to states “according to their respective numbers” and determined by an “actual enumeration” every ten years. A census ensured power in the “people’s house” was apportioned according to “the whole number of persons in each state.”
BLUE-STATE DEMOCRATS WANT ROTTEN BOROUGHS – Blue-states like California and blue-cities like New York have created “rotten boroughs” by creating “sanctuary” Congressional Districts that have attracted millions of illegal non-citizens, who Democrats insist are the co-equals of citizens. Red-state Republicans know these rotten districts corrupt the current political system; thereby granting extra political power and federal funds to blue states.
AT ISSUE IS FEDERAL POWER AND MONEY – The census determines (1) how many House representatives each state gets, (2) how electoral votes are apportioned, and (3) how federal funds are distributed to communities and states. By assuming 6.5 million residents will be subtracted from pro-Democrat rotten districts, blue-state Liberals worry that nine seats in Congress will shift, nine electoral votes will go Republican, and Washington will re-direct some part of $600 billion to red-state citizens.
SHOULD THE CENSUS TRACK CITIZENSHIP? – Chief Justice Roberts argues it should, asking “why that [citizenship] question would be the cause of people stopping answering.” In fact, the citizenship question was on the census until 1950. With 45 million foreign-born residents today, Republicans want to track how many immigrants willingly assimilate into the citizenry, because the immigrant-to-citizen conversion rate is a good measure of the American Dream. Furthermore, it is bad governance to accept continued estimates of illegal immigrants, when 67 percent of voters think illegal immigration is a serious problem (source: Rasmussen Reports).
AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM RESULTS FROM ITS CITIZENS – John Kennedy understood American exceptionalism and challenged his fellow citizens to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” JFK understood that America-loving citizens would put a man on the moon, defeat communism, and pay substantially into the Medicare and Social Security trust funds. It is reckless to chip away at the value of citizenship. Doing so undermines the American Spirit that makes the USA exceptional.
ILLEGAL ALIENS DON’T DESERVE REPRESENTATION – 60 percent of illegal immigrants say they came to the US for economic opportunity – not citizenship for their offspring (source: Pew Research and Texas Tribune). In short, non-citizens want work – not representation in Congress. 32 states support the citizenship question because they know the worst consequence for an “aggrieved”shadow resident would be deportation.
In fact, this is a small trade-off to improve compliance with the Voting Rights Act, which needs data that enumerates and locates minorities to enfranchise eligible minority voters that are by definition citizens – and Democrats should care more about the rights of minority citizens than non-citizens. Justice Alito observed, “citizens and non-citizens differ in a lot of respects other than citizenship.” This is true, because most non-citizen households have higher-than-average birthrates and lower-than-average tax withholdings than the households of US citizens (source: FAIR).
I expect the Supreme Court to vote 5-4 in favor of adding the citizenship question to the 2020 US census form and applaud Commerce Secretary Ross for elevating citizenship over shadow residency. He rightly pushed back against open-border advocates, rejecting the silly notion that a Bedouin culture can be allowed in the USA. It is a bad idea to pander to people who follow money across borders without putting down patriotic roots. In the universe of bad ideas, it’s right there with giving felons the right to vote.