Yesterday the Commerce Department announced that a citizenship enquiry volition move included on the side past times side census. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross stated that the improver of this enquiry would generate information that would move helpful "for determining violations of Section ii of the Voting Rights Act," which "protects minority population voting rights." The Commerce Secretary also concluded that the trouble organisation that fewer non-citizens volition response to a census that includes a citizenship enquiry were unfounded. Several states are considering a challenge to this proposed change. Presumably, they volition debate that the determination to add together a citizenship enquiry reflects a discriminatory intent that violates the Fourteenth Amendment.
While at that topographic point are many ways of assessing the Department's intent, here's 1 that I desire to throw out there. I honor it foreign that a Commerce Department (responding to a DOJ request) interested inwards asking a citizenship enquiry to protect voting rights would pick out non to enquire that enquiry close Section ii of the Fourteenth Amendment. If the Department actually wants to a greater extent than information close our citizens to protect their voting rights, too thence the most straightforward manner of doing thence would move to enquire how many of them were unable to vote too for what reason. There is precedent for this inwards the 1870 census form, equally my forthcoming article explains.
The actual census enquiry beingness proposed, past times contrast, is uninterested inwards whether citizens tin sack or cannot vote. This strikes me equally a miserable tool for improving voting rights, though it powerfulness move a fine manner of reducing the count of non-citizens.
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