Posted on 04/23/2019 9:40:57 AM PDT by jazusamo
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Tuesday that Hispanics may have a “rational fear” of their answers to the census being misused by the Trump administration, as she argued against including a question about citizenship in the 2020 count.
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on the thorny question, with the liberal justices saying they feared millions of people — Hispanics in particular — will toss the forms into the trash rather than fill them out, distorting the entire 2020 count.
“Are you sure they don’t have a rational fear?” Justice Sotomayor challenged the government’s lawyer.
The government said the question has been asked before, provides important information and besides, refusing to answer the census is illegal, so catering to the potential for Americans’ to take illegal action is fraught with its own perils.
Besides, there are ways to go out and find people who refused to fill out their forms, thus ensuring the government can get the information it needs — including citizenship information, said Noel Francisco, the U.S. solicitor general, arguing the case for President Trump and the administration.
He said the citizenship data is worth it even if it means more hassle and the potential for fewer responses.
“There’s always going to be a tradeoff,” he told the court.
A citizenship question was standard on the full census for more than 100 years, then was shunted to the so-called “long form” census along with a bunch of other demographic and sociological questions in 1960. It’s still asked now on the American Community Survey, another census survey, though it’s not part of the questionnaire that goes to everyone.
That history complicates the argument over adding it back in.
(Excerpt) Read more at outline.com ...
They could be as illegal as heck and the census data wouldn’t be used against them. You could never get away with using census data to target criminals. The courts would rightly toss it out since you cannot be required to testify against yourself.
So no Wise Latina, they have nothing to fear from the census.
The real “rational fear” is in places like Southern California where, thanks to NOT asking the citizenship question, there are perhaps as many as SIX ADDITIONAL HOUSE SEATS in the Los Angeles Basin ( and one of them is probably Adam Schitt’s, and another Maxine Waters). Plus all the Federal Money that is doled out on the basis of the Census figures. Those are the real issues here.
She absolutely means illegal parasites.
Moronic, biased, and sickly supreme court judge sotomayor is a clear argument for a prompt removal process from any type of judgeship.
Right on about the beatdown and you may well be right on Roberts writing the opinion.
a prompt removal
Like PRESIDENT TRUMP you speak my language.
When he said wiretap - I said *He speaks my language*
When he said - dress like a lady - I said, sure do - Even in jeans and a tee shirt, I always dress like a lady.
He speaks my language.
Freegards
For the record, I could give a schnitz about how Sotomayor, Kagen, and the rest of the communists vote on the left.
But if John Roberts goes Obamacare on us, it’s freakin’ over unless we can get RBG to play pinochle with either the caretakers or the earthworms before Trump’s out of office.
If they have a rational fear of the Trump Administration using that information against them, it can ONLY be because they are doing something wrong (like being here contrary to our laws)...so her question is ONLY about counting illegals.
Tell me, oh Wise Latina, if we count illegal immigrants, shouldn’t we also count tourists? After all, they are here. What’s that...they’re not part of our society, so they shouldn’t be counted? Yep, I agree...case closed.
I would not bet the farm on Roberts voting the right way! In fact it is very possible he will vote with the wise Latino.
On this case, not a chance !
The Supremes elevated this case from the lower court skipping the appellate court.
This decision is going to be an EPIC beatdown.
Not a surprising stance for this Obama appointee, but nonetheless unbelievable.
Most illegals indeed have a "rational fear" of being caught in violation of the law. Is asking the citizenship question any different than asking a presidential candidate to certify he/she is qualified for the office? Or any different than lying to an FBI agent?
Does the state have a compelling interest in any of those inquiries? Of course it does, how can the administration "misuse" any other information that naturally flows from such an inquiry?
If in the process of arresting a drunk driving suspect the officer asks whether she has any weapons on her and she replies, "Yes, and I just killed my husband.", is the officer obligated to disregard that information?
She is definitely "out-of-the-closet" with her statement.
My sense is if they lie on the form they face the same repercussions for being here illegally...NADA.
Indeed so.
ILLEGAL HISPANICS can and will fear it.
Legal ones will not fear it.
Too bad Justice Sodapop-mayer doesn’t know the difference between legal and illegal.
Oh, forgot, she’s a liberal.
Gads, law degrees are worth about as much as a Nobel Peace Prize nowadays.
Sotomayer must recuse herself when this issue comes to the Supremes.
No matter what the court rules, the census long form should be abolished. The reason for this is that the constitution requires an “actual enumeration”, but that’s it.
Mandating that citizens must answer other questions is a violation of the 4th Amendment. Comparably, a person should not be compelled to answer if they are approached by a police officer who demands to know if anyone in their home has committed any crime.
Even if the officer is doing so “just to collect statistical data.” His assurance in no way diminishes the need for him to have a pressing government need for that information.
Not just for the “convenience of government”, “ease of bureaucracy”, “to insure that everyone has indoor toilets (an actual census question), or any other excuse.
Having a captive audience because of the census in no way diminishes the constitutional requirement.
I think she means ILLEGAL ALIENS have a rational fear..if they have such fear, they should NEVER have crossed the border illegally like roaches
Hmmm....fear? You reckon these folks need a ‘safe space’....like a sanctuary city?
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