YAWN. The 14th Amendment Says Count... "Persons" -- Not Only Citizens.

Trump is again shown the gate, for violating several federal statutes -- and at least the spirit of the Fourteenth Amendment -- in his treatment of people living in America without all the papers we might. . . normally be expecting (i.e., a misdemeanor).

Of course, Trump is highly likely to appeal directly to the Supremes. . . but he will now be gone -- long before they can hear argument on any appeal, should they even decide to grant a hearing. Here's a bit from the 86 page opinion, out of New York's federal district courthouse in Manhattan tonight:

. . . .The President. . . is required to transmit to Congress “a statement showing the whole number of persons in each State. . . as ascertained under the. . . decennial census of the population, and the number of Representatives to which each State would be entitled” using a mathematical formula “known as the method of equal proportions.” 2 U.S.C. § 2a(a). Throughout the Nation’s history, the figures used to determine the apportionment of Congress — in the language of the current statutes, the “total population” and the “whole number of persons” in each State — have included every person residing in the United States at the time of the census, whether citizen or non-citizen and whether living here with legal status or without.

On July 21, 2020, however, the President announced that this long-standing practice will no longer be the case. . . .

[T]he President ordered the Secretary of Commerce (the “Secretary”) to provide him two sets of numbers for each State: first, the total population as determined in the 2020 census and, second, the total population as determined in the 2020 census minus the number of “aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status.” Id. The President left it to the Secretary of Commerce to figure out how to calculate the number of “aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status” in each State. . . .

. . .[N]oting that the Presidential Memorandum itself identifies a State — believed to be California — that would stand to lose two or three seats in the House of Representatives if illegal aliens are excluded from the apportionment base, they argue that the Memorandum will result in the loss of seats in the House. Second, they argue that the Presidential Memorandum is having an immediate impact on the census count -- which is still ongoing -- and that that, in turn, is resulting, and will result, in various forms of injury. . . .

For the reasons that follow, Plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment. The Presidential Memorandum violates the statutes governing the census and apportionment in two clear respects. First, pursuant to the virtually automatic scheme established by these interlocking statutes, the Secretary is mandated to report a single set of numbers -- “[t]he tabulation of total population by States” under the decennial census -- to the President, and the President. . . is required to use the same set of numbers in connection with apportionment. By directing the Secretary to provide two sets of numbers, one derived from the decennial census and one not, and announcing that it is the policy of the United States to use the latter in connection with apportionment, the Presidential Memorandum deviates from, and thus violates, the statutory scheme. Second, the Presidential Memorandum violates the statute governing apportionment because, so long as they reside in the United States, illegal aliens qualify as “persons in” a “State” as Congress used those words.

On those bases, we declare the Presidential Memorandum to be an unlawful exercise of the authority granted to the President by statute and enjoin Defendants. . . .

"C'Mon, November Three -- That's. . . For. . . MEEEEeeee!"

नमस्ते