Supreme Court hears census citizenship case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a case about a proposed citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census. After the Census Bureau announced plans to ask all U.S. residents about the status of their citizenship in the once-a-decade national population survey, 18 states and the District of Columbia challenged the move, claiming that fewer immigrants would complete the survey for fear of revealing their illegal status to authorities.

Lower court judges ruled against the Census Bureau, which argues the question is needed to help enforce the federal Voting Rights Act. How the justices rule could affect how many seats states have in the U.S. House of Representatives and their share of federal dollars over the next 10 years, both of which are decided using census data. A decision is expected by late June, in time to print forms for the April 2020 census.