Updated: Supreme Court Falls Short of Clarity on Census Citizenship Question

"In a setback for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court on Thursday sent back to a lower court a case on whether the census should contain a citizenship question, leaving in doubt whether the question would be on the 2020 census," reports Adam Liptak.

"Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said the explanation offered by the Trump administration for adding the question — asking whether a person is a citizen — was inadequate. But he left open the possibility that it could provide an adequate answer," according to Liptak.

As noted by Liptak, the "practical implication" of the decision in the United States Department of Commerce v. New York must still be determined. Census forms will have to be printed soon, so the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, will have to make the case for the citizenship question quickly. Or it could just ignore the Supreme Court.

Update: The President of the United States has suggested delaying the Census as a reaction to the Supreme Court decision.

Seems totally ridiculous that our government, and indeed Country, cannot ask a basic question of Citizenship in a very expensive, detailed and important Census, in this case for 2020. I have asked the lawyers if they can delay the Census, no matter how long, until the.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019