Posted on 01/17/2012 3:20:26 PM PST by jazusamo
Complete title: Judicial Watch Files Amicus Curiae Brief with Supreme Court Challenging U.S. Census Policy of Counting Illegal Aliens When Apportioning Seats in Congress
Judicial Watch Brief Supports Lawsuit Filed by State of Louisiana which Lost a Seat in the House of Representatives due to Census Bureau’s Unlawful Policy
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the State of Louisiana challenging a current federal policy in which “unlawfully present aliens” were counted in the 2010 Census ( Louisiana v. Bryson).
The government used these census numbers to reapportion seats in the House of Representatives and, as a result, the State of Louisiana lost a House seat to which it was entitled. Louisiana is asking that the Supreme Court order the federal government to recalculate the 2010 apportionment of House seats based upon legal residents as the U.S. Constitution requires.
Judicial Watch’s brief was filed on January 13, 2012, in partnership with the Allied Educational Foundation (AEF) in a lawsuit filed by the State of Louisiana against John Bryson, U.S. Secretary of Commerce; Robert Groves, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau; and Karen Lehman Hass, Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. According to the brief:
Amici are concerned about the failure to enforce the nation’s immigration laws and the corrosive effect of this failure on our institutions and the rule of law. Among the problems caused by this failure is a redistribution of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to States with large populations of unlawfully present aliens.
Amici respectfully submit that neither Article I Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Fourteenth Amendment, or any other provision of the Constitution authorize or permit the inclusion of unlawfully present aliens in the apportionment process. As a result, this case raises issues critical not just to Louisiana, but to every State, every American citizen, and our federal system of government.
Judicial Watch argues that due to this Census Bureau policy at least five states will lose House seats to which they are entitled. For example, based upon the Census Bureau’s calculation, Louisiana is being allocated only six House seats, as opposed to the seven that it would have been apportioned, were it not for the inclusion of illegal aliens and “non-immigrant foreign nationals,” encompassing holders of student visas and guest workers. The brief also notes that the “apportionment, in turn, determines the apportionment of electors in the Electoral College for the next three presidential elections.”
It is the contention of the State of Louisiana, Judicial Watch and AEF that “the policy of counting unlawfully present aliens in the nation’s decennial census is unconstitutional and undermines both our federal system of government and our democratic institutions,” and is the “direct result of the failure to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.”
“The U.S. Census Bureau’s policy of counting illegal aliens is unconstitutional and it distorts the democratic process,” said Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch. “Moreover, the Obama administration’s hostility to enforcing illegal immigration laws will only make this problem worse as greater numbers of illegal aliens flood into the country. Judicial Watch is pleased to join with the Allied Educational Foundation to file this amicus curiae brief in support of the State of Louisiana and the rule of law. We hope the Supreme Court takes up this historic case and vindicates the right of American citizens to have full representation in Washington.”
If illegal aliens are not counted, California will lose at lease 1/2 dozen seats and NY and Florida would both lose several seats.
I didn’t even know that was going on.....
I’m sure you’re right. This is a huge ripoff of American citizens.
Wow, they have thought of every conceivable way of stacking the deck.
This is something a law abiding citizen wouldn’t even consider happening in our country, it’s a no-brainer that this shouldn’t be happening.
More evidence of the Bizarro world in which we live today. How anyone could even fathom to count illegals for the purpose of congressional apportionment is mind-bogging. The country is being stolen from right under our noses and there is little we can do about it. The corrupt idiots at the grass roots level (i.e. leftist community organizers) are summarily stealing the country one zipcode at a time.
IMHO Illegal Immigration is at the root of so very many of our problems in this country. Not only are they counted in the census to determine all sorts of things, they flood our emergency rooms, using them as their doctor’s office (closing many hospitals on the borders), they take jobs that Americans WOULD LOVE TO HAVE in these hard times. And what about all of the voter fraud-do illegals have anything to do with that or is that why the liberals and some RINOs want amnesty? Illegal Immigration has not been addressed in any of the debates to the extent that I would like to have heard.
This is going to be interesting. In that a State is suing, the SCOTUS is almost obliged to take the case. Oddly enough, the Census Bureau might use the argument formerly used for slaves, that illegal aliens be counted as 3/5ths of a person.
and America takes another one in the........
Wonderful!!! This always bothered me and I think there is a strong Equal Protection argument to be made.
They could try but they would be comparing apples to oranges. The illegals can walk away and go back home anytime they want to. The slaves could not. Or at least not legally.
ONLY Louisiana?
There should probably be one of these suits in all 57 states.
Louisiana has no case as the Constitution directs us to count people, not only citizens.
No need to duplicate it. It will affect all 50 states.
How expensive will the census get if everyone they speak with has to produce a birth certificate that has to be verified? Just asking.
The census takers speak with few people, it’s based mostly on forms filled out by individuals.
they fill out forms and mail them in!?!?!? That’s cojones!!!!!
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