Trump admin asks Supreme Court to fast-track excluding people in U.S. illegally from census

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to consider hearing oral arguments in December for its appeal of a lower court ruling blocking President Trump’s order excluding people in the U.S. illegally from the census. 

In court documents filed Tuesday, the Trump administration suggested hearing oral arguments for the case in December, which would allow for a final decision before the Jan. 10 deadline in federal law to transmit census numbers that will determine each state’s allotment of seats in the House of Representatives for the next decade.

“If the district court or this Court stays the judgment, there will be no need to expedite any plenary consideration of this appeal,” the administration wrote. “But if no stay is granted, the government respectfully requests such expedition.” 

The timing would also potentially allow a new justice appointed by Trump to weigh in. 

Since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, Trump and Senate GOP leaders have signaled they will move on appointing a new judge in the conservative-majority court, while Democrats argue it should stay vacant until after the November election. 

In September, a three-judge panel in New York ruled that Trump’s order was unlawful, prohibiting Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from implementing the plan that would exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census. The Commerce Department oversees the census.

Apportionment in the census impacts the allotment of congressional seats as well as federal funds.