Census asks too many questions - it's just supposed to determine our population size

[brooklynite]

"Judge" Andrew Napolitano

Late last month, the Supreme Court ruled on a challenge to a question that the Commerce Department announced it would add to the 2020 census. The census itself has been mandated by the Constitution to be taken every 10 years so that representation in the House of Representatives could be fairly apportioned to reflect population changes.

Over the years, the folks who prepare the census developed an appetite for peering into the personal lives of everyone living in America, and Congress – which has the same mentality as the census bureaucrats – permitted this. So, the Census Bureau began adding personal questions in the census itself.

The First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments constitutionally limit the only question that the census may ask, and the only question the recipient of the census must answer: How many persons reside in the responder’s home?

Yet, that constitutional question was not good enough for the bureaucrats. In addition to asking about bedrooms and toilets and education, this year, the census folks were instructed by President Trump to ask the citizenship status of all persons. But the Supreme Court ruled that, on the justification offered by the Commerce Department, the question may not be asked.

No wonder Trump is unhappy at Fox News these days

[onenote]

1. This argument has never been accepted by the courts

Starting with the first census in 1790, questions going beyond a mere headcount have been part of the census. And when the issue has come up, the courts have found, citing the Constitutional provision directing the census to be conducted "in such manner as [Congress] shall by law direct" and the Constitutional "necessary and proper" principle, that the Constitution doesn't bar asking additional questions.

[stopdiggin]

4. correct. this is right wing drivel

I'm glad that the court struck down the citizenship question (because that was a thinly veiled attempt to produce an under count, and thus skew apportionment and representation). But the idea that the the census has become (or always was) "too invasive" is claptrap.

[stopdiggin]

5. so helpful

Oh -- and leave it to Fox (and Napolitano) to offer up legal and constitutional opinion that is just flat wrong. That is all.

[msongs]

2. its invasive nt nt

[jberryhill]

3. When I get the long form, I have to get extra sheets for that one question...

"Whaddya got in there?"

[Ilsa]

6. I'd rather the census ask me how many

Smart TVs I own.

[real Cannabis calm]

7. They can ask me how many media contacts I can call about strange questions

[Ilsa]

10. The tv questions were in 1950 and 1960, I think.

1950: do you own a TV?

1960: how many tvs do you own? Or maybe that was 1970.

[meow2u3]

8. The Census is also supposed to ask statistical questions only

such as age range, gender, race, ethnicity, and where you live. Some census takers might ask income level for stastical purposes.

Whether or not someone is a citizen is none of the government's business, unless the government is conspiring to persecute certain immigrant groups.

[Silver Swan]

9. 2020 will be the eighth census that counted me.

I was always happy when I got the "long form." I was glad to have my unique information be part of the aggregate.