Unconstitutional?
Does the constitution apply to non legal residents of the USA?
I’m sure this has been decided but cannot recall.
While I agree with the President's position, the Constitution is very clear with it's specific wording in Article 1 Section 2. The wording calls for an “actual enumeration” (actual count, so no approximations) and “... the whole number of free persons”.
Changing this can be done but would require a constitutional amendment. So while I support the concept, I believe it needs to be done in a different manner.
To add a log to the fire, I would assert that “free persons” does NOT include those that are incarcerated, or are wards of the state (mental institutions).
Absolutely. Non-citizens have the same constitutional rights as anyone else.
Evidence obtained via an illegal search would be thrown out by the court no matter the immigration status of the defendant.
Same applies to all the Constitutional rights.
In this case the opinion, linked in post 20, cites overwhelming proof that the issue of immigration status was explicitly considered by the framers and they clearly meant to include all residents regardless of citizenship status.
This panel and the NY Court that also shot the idea down were both unanimous and bipartisan, and said the Constitutional case isn't even difficult.
Yes, especially under 14th Amendment protections. Courts are correct (Post Civil War/Reconstruction laws/14th Amendment are spoils of the victorious strong-central State/a.k.a our Federal government), heck, if you are allowed to send your non-citizen child to public schools, then you should be able to count your non-citizen household in the census as well by logical default.