Donald Trump just got his ass handed to him
In a surprise decision, the Trump administration just announced they will not include the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. We do not have the reasoning for why that decision was made, but perhaps after further review, the Trump team realized that their reasoning for this policy, like in many other instances, was a pile of steaming Trump manure.
When the Court ruled on the issue last week, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, and subsequent calls for his impeachment ensued. Today’s reversal of course suggests that the Court was right when it called bullshite on Trump. Roberts wrote in part: “We cannot ignore the disconnect between the decision made and the explanation given… If judicial review is to be more than an empty ritual, it must demand something better than the explanation offered for the action taken in this case. In these unusual circumstances, the District Court was warranted in remanding to the agency, and we affirm that disposition.”
And he wrote: “We do not hold that the agency decision here was substantively invalid. But agencies must pursue their goals reasonably. Reasoned decisionmaking under the Administrative Procedure Act calls for an explanation for agency action. What was provided here was more of a distraction.”
Distraction is a nice way for Roberts, a man of few angry or fighting words, to say that Trump lied. The news was confirmed by Kate Bailey, a United States Department of Justice Trial Attorney, who tweeted: “We can confirm that the decision has been made to print the 2020 Decennial Census questionnaire without a citizenship question.” And so, Trump, caught in another lie, takes his ball and goes home. Winning, bigly.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.