Post by Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) / Redsky

2. Greene's bill is the latest effort by Republican lawmakers to exclude millions of people living in the states without U.S. citizenship from census counts that the 14th Amendment says must include the "whole number of persons in each state"

jul 29, 2025, 9:17 pm • 23 9

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3. The Constitution has required a census every 10 years since the first U.S. count in 1790 to reapportion House seats among the states. It's not clear whether the results of a census in 2025 or 2026 (assuming it could be carried out in time) could be used for reapportionment, as I reported in 2020:

jul 29, 2025, 9:20 pm • 21 6 • view

4. Under current federal law, the results of a mid-decade census "shall not be used for apportionment." Greene’s bill is a bid to reset the census schedule so that once-a-decade counting starts whenever the bill is enacted in 2025 or 2026, and “mid-decade” counting would take place in 2030 or 2031

(a) CENSUS .—Section 141 of title 13, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a), by striking the first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall, on the date of the enactment of the Making American Elections Great Again Act and every 10 years thereafter, take a decennial census of population. The date on which such census is conducted shall be known as the ‘decennial census date’. Any such census may be conducted in such form and content as the Secretary may determine, including the use of sampling procedures and special surveys.’’;

(2) in subsection (d)— (A) by striking ‘‘in the year 1985 and every 10 years thereafter’’ and inserting ‘‘in the year that is 5 years after the year a decennial census of population is conducted under sub-section (a) and every 10 years thereafter’’; and (B) by striking the last sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘The census under this subsection shall be taken on the date that is 5 years after the date a decennial census of population is conducted under subsection (a), as amended by the Making American Elections Great Again Act, and that date shall be known as the ‘mid-decade census date’.’’;

jul 29, 2025, 9:25 pm • 24 4 • view

Laws are for losers.....amirite?

jul 29, 2025, 9:28 pm • 0 0 • view

5. Putting the legal questions aside, Greene's bill also raises a lot of practical questions. The Census Bureau is in the middle of a more-than-10-year process for #2030Census preparations, which includes research efforts such as the "2026 Census Test," while dealing with funding uncertainty

jul 29, 2025, 9:32 pm • 24 4 • view

6. "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state..." - 14th Amendment on who should be counted in census apportionment counts used to redistribute U.S. House seats and Electoral College votes

jul 29, 2025, 9:35 pm • 21 2 • view

7. The 14th Amendment's "Indians not taxed" clause no longer excluded some Indigenous people from congressional apportionment counts by 1940, when the Census Bureau began trying to include all Indigenous residents of the United States. From Carol Lujan: www.census.gov/library/work...

Thus, Indians have been included in the census count since 1890. However, for purpose of apportioning representatives to Congress, Indians not taxes were deducted from the total population count until 1940. In 1939, the Census Bureau solicited an opinion from the U.S. Attorney General to resolve the problem of excluding certain segments of the Indian population from the total count. Two events which most likely serves as an impetus were a 1935 Supreme Court decision (Superintendent v. Commissioner) which held that all Indians are subject to federal taxation regardless of land ownership (Clemence, no date) and the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. The Indian Citizenship Act gave all Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States full citizenship. This status, however, did not infringe upon the rights enjoyed as members of their respective tribes, thus implying a dual citizenship status for Indians (Deloria and Lytle 1983). Hence, in 1940 the Indian population was finally included in the total U. S. census count.

jul 29, 2025, 9:36 pm • 19 1 • view

8. By the way, data from the census citizenship question that Greene's bill would require could allow state/local governments to draw voting districts that don't account for children and noncitizens, a radical departure from current standard redistricting. Its legality is an open question at SCOTUS

jul 29, 2025, 9:49 pm • 13 2 • view