Q&A – Can the U.S. Conduct a Census More Frequently Than Once A Decade?

1) There’s never been a Census conducted more frequently than every ten years 2) The Supreme Court already ruled against the “citizenship question”, or standard, being added prior to the previous Census conducted during President Trump’s first term and 3) I don’t see how he’d get a filibuster proof majority in the Senate to go along with this.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
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at Brian Mud Radio. This would be a way to

(00:48):
solve the Texas and Florida redistricting situations. What do you
think about it? And what he is referring to a
note posted by President Trump on True Social yesterday, and
Here's Fox's hat Jared Halpern to explain.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
President Trump says he's instructed the Commerce Department to immediately
begin work on a new census that he says is
based on modern day facts and figures and information gained
from the twenty twenty four election on his Truth social platform.
The president also says people in the country illegally will
not be counted in the census. The census, required every

(01:25):
ten years, is essential to determining how many congressional seats
or apportion to each state. Okay, so my thoughts about
President Trump pushing for a new census. My thoughts are, one,
there's never been a census conducted more frequently than every
ten years. Two, the Supreme Court already ruled against the

(01:47):
citizenship question at or standard being added prior to the
previous census conducted during President Trump's first term. And three,
I don't see how he would get a filibuster PRIs
majority in the Senate to go along with this. In
other words, I doubt President and Trump's direct directive ultimately
results in a new census being conducted that would achieve
what Florida and Texas would like to achieve and what

(02:08):
the President has outlined, although in theory it's at least plausible,
and I've been surprised before. So you know, let's dive in,
starting with taking a step back at the constitutional considerations
that come into play with the census. The census was
created under Article one, Section two, cause three of the Constitution.
Every ten years since ninety or since seventeen ninety, the

(02:31):
Census Bureau has been tasked with providing an updated account
of persons in every state across the country. Since its
information is used to provide the populations in each state,
which determines the number of electoral College votes each state has,
it's also used to draw congressional districts and allocate funding
to each.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Now notable in this conversation is that the Constitution states
persons persons not citizens, shall be counted. That obviously leaves
room for anyone currently in the country legally or otherwise
to be counted. And while it's debatable at best as
to whether the founders sought to have those not even

(03:10):
legally within our country counted in the census, the wording
has allowed for that historically to take place, and this
incentivizes the sanctuary policies of states like California and New
York to fill their population losses with those here illegally,
because they count every bit as much in the census
as you or I would now it is possible that
even though President Trump suffered a loss in twenty nineteen

(03:33):
while attempting to add a citizenship question to the census,
he might seek to try to force the issue again
with the hope of a different result. The twenty nineteen
ruling was a five to four decision, notably at a
time when liberal Justice Ginsburg was on the bench, a
seat that is now filled by Justice Barrett. In theory,
if all justices broke similarly to how they did in

(03:54):
twenty nineteen, any Coney Barrett could be a deciding vote
in allowing four the citizen and chip question. That we
don't know if she would go along with it, but nevertheless,
whether or not an actual census takes place here. If
the Supreme Court overturned that decision, it could open up
the opportunity for the question to be added by the
next administration when the twenty thirty census will be conducted.

(04:18):
As for when or whether the census can happen, the
answer is yes, although it would require an Act of Congress.
The constitutional language reads like this, The actual enumeration shall
be made within three years after the first meeting of
the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent

(04:39):
term of ten years in such manner as they shall
by law direct Okay, So that clause only mandates that
the census take place every ten years as directed under
law by Congress. It doesn't state that it can only
take place every ten years. Therefore, if Congress passed a
law calling for a new census to be conducted and
funded it, which is another must, as the cost of

(05:01):
conducting the census was over fifteen billion dollars in the
twenty twenty cycle, then it could take place constitutionally. Now
that is another major hill to cline. It's unclear how
much political will there is by Republicans in Congress for
another census. Be mindful that wild states like Florida and Texas,
which stand to benefit from a new census, would like

(05:22):
to see this happen. You would have blue state Republicans
in California and New York that would stand to lose
from this process, right and in fact, they could literally
be voting to eliminate their congressional seat. And that's one
of the considerations you've got to keep in mind. Any
Republicans in blue states would be likely reluctant to want
to go along with a new census that could lead

(05:44):
to that redistricting effort. Even if the narrow GOP majority
held in Congress, there most certainly would not be a
filibuster proof majority in the Senate that would go along
with this kind of a plan, So that is the
lay of the land. It may be interesting to see
what may become of this, especially if thettempt could result
in the Supreme Court reviewing the citizenship question again. With

(06:05):
Amy Cony Barrett now on the bench. However, there's most
likely not going to be a new census conducted prior
to the next schedule one in five years.