Trump says he wants to reach a 'successful conclusion' to census case that is already settled


Who wants to be the one to tell him?
Hours after a Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed that there would be "no citizenship question on 2020 census," Trump tweeted some outdated thoughts. "A very sad time for America when the Supreme Court of the United States won't allow a question of 'Is this person a Citizen of the United States?' to be asked on the #2020 Census! Going on for a long time," he said. "I have asked the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice to do whatever is necessary to bring this most vital of questions, and this very important case, to a successful conclusion. USA! USA! USA!"
Last Thursday, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from adding the citizenship question to the next census, saying they didn't give a sufficient reason as to why it needed to be asked. Critics said the question would dissuade non-citizens from taking the census, and pointed out the fact that a GOP operative shared with the administration that adding the question "would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites."
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It's unclear if Trump is sending a message with his tweet — that he doesn't agree with the decision to drop the effort and will revive the fight — or he genuinely isn't aware of what happened. Either way, someone get him on the Department of Justice's mailing list.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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