'A really big deal': Trump says Supreme Court should back citizenship question on 2020 Census

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump lobbied the Supreme Court on Wednesday to uphold his administration's plan to ask people in the 2020 census whether or not they are U.S. citizens.

"The American people deserve to know who is in this Country," Trump tweeted. "Yesterday, the Supreme Court took up the Census Citizenship question, a really big deal. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

While critics said the citizenship question will lead to millions of people avoiding the Census, there is a good chance Trump will get his wish.

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During a hearing Tuesday, five conservatives on the nine-member Supreme Court expressed sympathy for the Trump administration's position. They included two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

The last time the Census Bureau asked everyone in the census about their citizenship status was in 1950. After that and until 2010, the citizenship question was asked only on the long form, a census subset that went to only one out of every six households.

Opponents called the citizenship question unconstitutional. They also said a reduced response rate among 22 million non-citizens in the U.S. would tilt the allocation of House seats and about $650 billion in federal funds from Democratic to Republican states and localities.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'A really big deal': Trump says Supreme Court should back citizenship question on 2020 Census