Trump says US census 'meaningless' without citizenship question

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump on Monday injected himself into one of the most consequential cases of the current Supreme Court term, saying the nation's 2020 census would be "meaningless" without adding a question about citizenship to the questionnaire.

Trump made his comment on Twitter as the Supreme Court prepares on April 23 to hear oral arguments on the citizenship question, with a decision expected by the end of June.

The U.S. Constitution requires a census every 10 years, with the results used to draw political boundaries, allocate seats in Congress and at the state and local level, and distribute federal funds.

"Can you believe that the Radical Left Democrats want to do our new and very important Census Report without the all important Citizenship Question," Trump tweeted. "Report would be meaningless and a waste of the $Billions (ridiculous) that it costs to put together!"

In January, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan struck down the inclusion of the citizenship question, saying the census was supposed to include the counting of noncitizens.

He also accused Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross of offering a "pretexual" rationale for including the question, that it was needed to help enforce the Voting Rights Act.

Many U.S. states and civil rights groups have challenged the citizenship question, and two judges have blocked its use.

Following the second decision, from a federal judge in California, the Supreme Court said last month it will also decide whether Ross violated the Constitution's Enumeration Clause, which sets out terms under which people should be counted, when he added the citizenship question.

Critics have accused the White House of encouraging an undercount by dissuading immigrants from participating in the census, more likely hurting Democrats than Republicans.

Non-citizens comprise an estimated 7 percent of people living in the United States.