Census, redistricting top remaining Supreme Court cases

Jun 24, 20190

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FILE - In this April 23, 2019 file photo, Immigration activists rally outside the Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments over the Trump administration's plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, in Washington. Voting rights activists argue that newly discovered 2015 correspondence between a GOP redistricting expert and a current Census Bureau official bolster arguments that discrimination motivated efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 population survey. The plaintiffs, who successfully challenged the question in a Maryland federal court, said in a filing late Friday, June 14 that the email exchange between the late Republican consultant Thomas Hofeller and the Census Bureau official was discovered earlier this week. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court enters its final week of decisions with two politically charged issues unresolved, whether to rein in political line-drawing for partisan gain and allow a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

Both decisions could affect the distribution of political power for the next decade, and both also may test Chief Justice John Roberts' professed desire to keep his court of five conservatives appointed by Republican presidents and four liberals appointed by Democrats from looking like the other, elected branches of government. Decisions that break along the court's political and ideological divide are more likely to generate criticism of the court as yet another political institution.

http://www.startribune.com/census-redistricting-top-remaining-supreme-court-cases/511694592/