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What does the Supreme Court decision on citizenship status mean for the 2020 census?

A protester holds a sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court where the court ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration did not give an adequate explanation for its plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, delivering a victory to New York state and others challenging the proposal in Washington, U.S., June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC11B5E74430

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from adding a question on citizenship status to the 2020 census. In this episode, demographer William Frey explains the ruling and how a skewed census would affect the political representation of state legislative districts, over-weighing the representation of older, whiter populations. Frey also cautions that the decision has been turned back to the lower courts, where the Commerce Department still has an opportunity to come up with a more procedurally appropriate reason to include the citizenship question on the census.

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Thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo, Chris McKenna, Fred Dews, and Camilo Ramirez for their support.

The Current is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

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