Citizenship matters. Or, at least it used to. The question of who is a citizen and who is not is at the foundation of what makes a nation. As a practical matter, however, knowing who is a citizen and who isn’t shapes the way policies get made and resources get allocated.

Which is why the stakes are so high in a legal case concerning whether or not the U.S. Census Bureau may include a question in the next year’s survey asking about the citizenship of the recipient.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Department of Commerce v. New York, which seeks to prevent the government from including the question.

A coalition of 17 states, including California and led by New York, sued the Trump administration last year to block the question from being included.

Announcing the lawsuit in April 2018, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the change was “really just an effort to punish places like New York that welcome immigrants, that are accommodating to immigrants and embrace the American tradition of open arms for all.”

Read the rest in the Sacramento Bee.

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