This article is part of David Leonhardt’s newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday.

The Trump administration wants to change the U.S. Census by adding a question about citizenship status, and the Supreme Court’s five Republican-appointed justices seemed to signal yesterday that they would approve the change.

It’s an alarming situation, for three main reasons:

1. The Trump administration has lied.

Wilbur Ross, President Trump’s commerce secretary, who oversees the Census Bureau, told blatant falsehoods when explaining why he wanted to add the question. Ross claimed that his motivation was protecting the voting rights of African-Americans, a claim that makes no sense given the administration’s numerous other efforts to restrict voting rights. Three federal judges on lower courts have dismissed Ross’s explanation.

The administration’s real motivation is obvious. A citizenship question would reduce the response rate of immigrants, both legal and illegal, and thus reduce the political power of racially diverse states, which tend to lean Democratic.