CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT

Trump v. New York

Issues

Does New York have standing to challenge President Trump’s memorandum excluding undocumented immigrants from the apportionment base of the 2020 U.S. decennial census? If so, is it lawful for the President to exclude undocumented immigrants unlawfully residing in the United States from the congressional apportionment base in the 2020 U.S. decennial census?

Court below

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

This case asks the Supreme Court to decide whether the president may exclude undocumented immigrants when apportioning congressional seats by population. On July 21, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum declaring that the United States would exclude undocumented immigrants from the congressional apportionment base. Trump argues that New York lacks standing to bring this case since 2020 census questionnaires are no longer being collected and it cannot point to how much federal funding or congressional representation certain states stand to lose. Trump further contends that even if New York has standing, Trump has discretion not to count undocumented immigrants for apportionment purposes. New York asserts that it has standing because it has demonstrated that the memorandum will deter undocumented immigrants from participating in the 2020 decennial census. Moreover, New York asserts that federal statutes require the government to make funding decisions based on the total population count and that certain states could lose congressional representation if the memorandum is implemented. Finally, New York argues that the Census Act, Reapportionment Act, and the Constitution prevent the president from exercising discretion to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census. The outcome of this case has implications for the apportionment of representatives from states with large undocumented populations and the participation of undocumented immigrants in the decennial census.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

(1) Whether a group of states and local governments have standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge a July 21, 2020, memorandum by President Donald Trump instructing the secretary of commerce to include in his report on the 2020 census information enabling the president to exclude noncitizens from the base population number for purposes of apportioning seats in the House of Representatives; and (2) whether the memorandum is a permissible exercise of the president’s discretion under the provisions of law governing congressional apportionment.

The U.S. Constitution mandates that an “actual enumeration” of the population be conducted every ten years, so that the resulting number can be used to apportion congressional seats. New York v.