According to Fox News, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in June against President Donald Trump’s efforts to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Now, the administration is paying the price of their loss.
The Sacramento Bee reported Friday that the Trump administration has reached a settlement with the state of California to pay it nearly $850,000 in reimbursements for attorneys’ fees and other legal costs associated with the case.
A lost battle
Filed on Friday, the three-page Notice of Settlement made official the agreement reached by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for the Trump administration to pay the Golden State $846,000 in legal fees after losing its case.
California had led a number of states in the suit, which challenged the administration’s plan to include a question on citizenship on the next census.
The plaintiffs argued that the inclusion of a question about citizenship might have resulted in reduced participation in the census by legal immigrants and other minorities.
According to the Bee, California had estimated that reduced participation in the census would result in an undercount of its population that could cost the state upwards of $2,000 per person over the next decade — or billions of dollars in lost federal funds.
“Only in America!”
The court sided with California, ruling that the administration’s reasoning behind including the question was “contrived” and ultimately blocking the move.
Siding with the four reliably liberal justices — Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagen, and Sonia Sotomayor — against Trump was Chief Justice John Roberts, according to Fox.
For his part, President Donald Trump responded to the ruling with a tweet calling the decision “totally ridiculous.”
…..United States Supreme Court is given additional information from which it can make a final and decisive decision on this very critical matter. Can anyone really believe that as a great Country, we are not able the ask whether or not someone is a Citizen. Only in America!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
But as much of a pain as it will be for Trump to get the information he needs, in the end, the $846,000 will be a small price to pay if the Commerce Department can indeed collect the data by other means.
It’s time for federal funds to start going to Americans — not illegal aliens.
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