{"id":63038,"date":"2026-03-02T20:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=63038"},"modified":"2026-03-02T20:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:10:20","slug":"a-question-that-needs-an-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=63038","title":{"rendered":"A Question That Needs An Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sunday, Just the News<\/a> posted an article titled, “Did Founding Framers intend for the Census to count Illegal aliens? Courts could soon decide.” This is an important question because it impacts the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

The article reports:<\/p>\n

Historical evidence suggests the framers did not intend for illegal immigrants to be counted for apportionment. A new lawsuit<\/a> filed by the State of Missouri urges the Census Bureau to return to that original understanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Constitution\u2019s text\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution<\/a> requires an \u201cactual enumeration\u201d of the population for purposes of congressional representation. The Fourteenth Amendment later clarified that this enumeration must count the \u201cwhole number of persons\u201d residing in each state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Constitution, however, has never been interpreted to require counting every individual physically present within a state on census day. For example, no cases have contended that the Census Bureau must count temporary visitors, such as foreign tourists or short-term travelers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

While there is broad agreement that the phrase \u201cwhole number of persons\u201d does not require a literal counting of every individual physically present in a state at a given moment, there is disagreement over whether it requires the Census Bureau to include illegal immigrants.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For much of American history, whether illegal immigrants should be included in the census was a purely academic question. For nearly a century after the nation\u2019s founding, there were few meaningful federal restrictions on immigration. Congress did not enact the first statute excluding certain classes of immigrants until 1875. Numerical limits on immigration were not imposed until the Immigration Act of 1921<\/a>, and unauthorized entry across the border was not criminalized until 1929.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because lawful immigration was relatively accessible, illegal immigration remained limited for much of the nation\u2019s early history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article concludes:<\/p>\n

The framers\u2019 and early Congresses\u2019 repeated use of the term \u201cinhabitant\u201d is significant. In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century legal usage, the term was closely associated with the concept of domicile\u2014a fixed, lawful, and enduring residence. That concept stands in sharp contrast to transient presence or unlawful entry, suggesting that the Constitution\u2019s original understanding of apportionment was tied to lawful, settled membership in a political community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Will the Supreme Court decide?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Missouri\u2019s lawsuit may finally force a definitive answer. If the case reaches the Supreme Court, the justices may be asked to determine whether the Constitution permits counting illegal aliens for purposes of apportionment. Missouri has asked for expedited resolution of its case.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The census should be limited to citizens–the people who have skin in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday, Just the News posted an article titled, “Did Founding Framers intend for the Census to count Illegal aliens? Courts could soon decide.” This is an important question because it impacts the balance of power in the U.S. House … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12498,18224],"class_list":["post-63038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-just-the-news","tag-non-citizens-in-the-census"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63039,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63038\/revisions\/63039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}