In order for Ramirez’s ’toon to come anywhere near an approximation of reality, he has to replace the Democratic donkey with the Republican elephant.
It is the Democrats who want to count EVERYBODY, regardless of citizenship status, as reguired by the U.S. Constitution.
It is the REPUBLICANS who want to suppress the constitutionally-mandated count of EVERYBODY, by including a question that its designer admitted in (what he thought were private) emails (revealed when his daughter found them after his death) that is real intent was to REDUCE participation by Democrats and non-whites.
The express purpose of the census as explicitly mandated in the Constitution is for the purpose of determining apportionment of legislative districts. The specification is for all RESIDENTS, regardless of citizenship or legal status. This is a constitutional requirement — counting people for determination of congressional representation.
Certainly it is also an excellent opportunity to collect additional demographic data that is useful in determining public policy needs, and one could argue that citizenship vs. non-citizenship is useful demographic data.
But if any aspect of collecting demographic data (not the Constitutionally-stated purpose) interferes with the specific, expressed Constitutional purpose by reducing participation, then collection of that data violates the Constitution.
The citizenship question is therefore unconstitutional, which of course means nothing to current right-wing extremist judges, and even Chief Justice Roberts, a less extreme conservative, could see that.
In order for Ramirez’s ’toon to come anywhere near an approximation of reality, he has to replace the Democratic donkey with the Republican elephant.
It is the Democrats who want to count EVERYBODY, regardless of citizenship status, as reguired by the U.S. Constitution.
It is the REPUBLICANS who want to suppress the constitutionally-mandated count of EVERYBODY, by including a question that its designer admitted in (what he thought were private) emails (revealed when his daughter found them after his death) that is real intent was to REDUCE participation by Democrats and non-whites.
The express purpose of the census as explicitly mandated in the Constitution is for the purpose of determining apportionment of legislative districts. The specification is for all RESIDENTS, regardless of citizenship or legal status. This is a constitutional requirement — counting people for determination of congressional representation.
Certainly it is also an excellent opportunity to collect additional demographic data that is useful in determining public policy needs, and one could argue that citizenship vs. non-citizenship is useful demographic data.
But if any aspect of collecting demographic data (not the Constitutionally-stated purpose) interferes with the specific, expressed Constitutional purpose by reducing participation, then collection of that data violates the Constitution.
The citizenship question is therefore unconstitutional, which of course means nothing to current right-wing extremist judges, and even Chief Justice Roberts, a less extreme conservative, could see that.