On Tuesday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dept. Commerce v. New York, the case against the Trump administration for adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census.
According to those who watch SCOTUS closely and were in the room, it looks like the Trump administration is on the way to a win.
In Supreme Court arguments on adding a citizenship question to the census, all signs pointed to the usual 5-4 split, meaning that the court’s conservative majority is poised to allow the question.
— Adam Liptak (@adamliptak) April 23, 2019
Supreme Court's ideological divide on full display as #scotus takes up Trump administration’s census citizenship question. The court's conservative majority seemed open to deferring to Commerce Secretary's decision to add question https://t.co/EVC3ikTuOj
— Robert Barnes (@scotusreporter) April 23, 2019
Just got out of census arguments. I think SCOTUS will uphold the Trump administration’s addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census by a 5–4 vote.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 23, 2019
From Bloomberg:
Key U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed inclined to let the Trump administration add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census in a clash that will shape the allocation of congressional seats and federal dollars.
In an 80-minute argument Tuesday that was both technical and combative, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh directed almost all their questions to the lawyers challenging the decision to ask about citizenship. Kavanaugh said Congress gave the Commerce secretary "huge discretion" to decide what to ask on the census.
A final ruling on the case will be announced by the end of June.