President Trump is deliberating an executive order that would require the Commerce Department to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The move comes two days after the White House said it would accept a Supreme Court defeat and not include the question.

"So important for our Country that the very simple and basic 'Are you a Citizen of the United States?' question be allowed to be asked in the 2020 Census. Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice are working very hard on this, even on the 4th of July!" Trump tweeted Thursday.

So important for our Country that the very simple and basic “Are you a Citizen of the United States?” question be allowed to be asked in the 2020 Census. Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice are working very hard on this, even on the 4th of July! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2019

A senior administration official told Axios, "The administration is considering the appropriateness of an executive order that would address the constitutional need for the citizenship question to be included in the 2020 census." Another anonymous administration source said, "We didn’t come this far just to throw in the towel."

Axios quoted an apparent third source with knowledge of the internal talks saying that the White House was skeptical it could prevail legally with such an order but wanted to send the message that it had done all it could on the matter. "I think that there’s a good argument to be made that even though the president may lose in litigation at the end of the day, going through that process ultimately makes it clear that it’s the chief justice, and not the Executive Branch, that bears responsibility for that unfortunate outcome," that source said.

In a 5-4 decision last week, the Supreme Court effectively blocked the Trump administration from asking about citizenship on the 2020 census. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday that while the White House disagreed with the ruling it would print the 2020 questionnaires without the citizenship question.