Opinion

Census question was about gerrymandering, not citizenship

It’s clear President Donald Trump’s citizenship question was more about gerrymandering than anything else. It’s clear President Donald Trump’s citizenship question was more about gerrymandering than anything else. Photo: Chip Somodevilla /Getty Images Photo: Chip Somodevilla /Getty Images Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Census question was about gerrymandering, not citizenship 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

News item: President Donald Trump is giving up on his quest to include a citizenship question in the 2020 Census after the Supreme Court said the reasons the administration gave for including the question were pretextual, aka lies.

The president had insisted on taking up the 5-4 court on its offer that a lower court might consider other real reasons, prompting the administration to request a change in lawyers. The previous lawyers might have been unwilling to perjure themselves further by evading those real reasons. Then Trump caved, declaring himself vindicated because everyone who questioned him isn’t a real American who cares about the value of citizenship.

Dear wife: I told you I was going to get the car washed and ended up at a bar with my buddies. And while I was there, my grandson was born, prompting congratulatory drinks. When I Ubered home, you demanded to know where I’d been. “Getting the car washed,” I replied. You demanded to know the real reason (and where, by the way, was the car?). I said I’d get back to you when I conferred with my new lawyers for a better reason (not that the original reason wasn’t valid).

Dear boss: I called in sick yesterday. You, as it is now clear, saw me on the Jumbotron during the Spurs game. This, of course, doesn’t mean (cough, cough) I wasn’t sick or adverse to exposing a stadium full of people to my germs. I was shocked — shocked! — that you accused me, tactfully, of offering “pretextual” reasons for why I was at the game and not at work completing the Cooper report. On the advice of counsel, I ignore the criticism and declare victory.

Dear son/daughter: I told you I would go to your soccer game (or was it a recital?) and that, this time, work wouldn’t stop me. Right; I didn’t make it, but I hear you gave a sterling performance. Was I at work? And, you ask, why was Mommy saying something about Cooper and some report? Just know I was there in spirit — or, as they say in other contexts, I was there in pretext.

Dear creditor: Yes, the bill is past due. As you correctly note, you called after the past-due date to remind me. I said something about the check being in the mail, to which we both shared a chuckle. OK, I chuckled. I took the dead silence on your end as an implicit chuckle. Again, the check is in the mail and I did not — repeat, did not — spend that amount for Spurs tickets or to pay a bar tab.

News item: Documents revealed after the death of GOP redistricting strategist Thomas Hofeller indicate the real reason the Trump administration tried to get the citizenship question onto the 2020 Census form was to give partisan advantage in redistricting to whites and the Republican Party. It would accomplish this by paving the way for counting only voting eligible citizens for redistricting purposes. Trump, while refusing to allow administration lawyers to own up to this in the court case, admitted as much in statements in which he gave up the quest for the citizenship question.

Moral: You can’t (always) get away with lying to the courts, including to Chief Justice John Roberts, but public opinion seems to be far more forgiving.

Ricardo Pimentel is the former editorial page editor for the San Antonio Express-News.