Though it is legally dubious, President Trump signed a White House memorandum directing the drawing of Congressional districts after the 2020 Census to exclude undocumented residents from the calculations.

By attempting to exclude all residents from being used in the establishment of Constitutional districts, republicans hope to further consolidate power in areas, primarily non-urban, in which their Party does better electorally.

The move will likely be challenged in court and overturned for a number of reasons.  First, the President has no authority to direct the drawing of Congressional districts, which are determined by the individual states, each using its own formula.

Second, the Constitution states that the Census is to be used to count the “Respective numbers” in each state, which is thereby used to determine the number of representatives in the House of Representatives for each state.

Finally, Trump’s rationale laid out in the memo is, on its face, faulty.  Trump relies on a dubious definition of “inhabitants” of a State, perverting the definition of “inhabitant” to exclude people who are not legal residents of the country.

In fact, by specifying in the Constitution that the apportionment is to made based on “Respective numbers,” the Founders intentionally including non-citizen residents in the Census count.

As Mother Jones writer Ari Berman points out:  “Trump’s move seems less like a good-faith effort to change the law and more like yet another attempt to manipulate the census to benefit GOP interests and maintain white control over the political process.”