Who Counts?Donald Trump has done everything he can to sabotage the 2020 census. It’s easy to see why: By manipulating the census, Trump can entrench Republican power for a decade by ensuring that GOP voters are overrepresented in Congress and state legislatures. So far, the federal judiciary has shot down much of the mischief.
There are two census cases pending before the Supreme Court. The first asks the court to halt the count immediately, even though it is far behind schedule due to the pandemic. The second asks the court to let Trump exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives, which would strip congressional seats from states with large immigrant communities by rejecting the constitutional personhood of immigrants.
Instead of extending the census count in the face of these roadblocks, Trump’s appointees cut it short. In August, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who oversees the census, moved the deadline from Oct. 31 to Sept. 30, claiming it was necessary to meet statutory deadlines. At that point, less than 63 percent of households had responded. Experts at the bureau