The term “constitutional crisis” gets used a lot these days. By a very fair definition we’ve been in one since January. A more apt and consequential meaning, however, is a crisis in which the legitimacy and continuation of the state rests in the balance or whether it fragments and degenerates into civil war, military rule or state disintegration. Today President Trump proposed something that, to my view, for the first time provides a path to such a crisis.
In a Truth Social post, Trump appeared to order a new census to be undertaken now, as opposed to the next constitutionally scheduled one in 2030. This new one would violate the Constitution by only counting citizens and legal residents. It would then, it seems, try to reapportion Congress using the numbers produced by this unconstitutional Census in time for the 2026 and/or 2028 election. In other words, Trump would by executive fiat change how many representatives each state sends to Congress and each states electoral votes. That’s quite literally how you rig an election. So in this scenario California’s and New York’s delegations show up in 2027 and Trump’s people say, no, you don’t have X reps. You have X-4. Send these other folks home. There’s simply no way to accept a president unilaterally and unconstitutionally taking away a state’s representation in Congress and the Electoral College and continuing to accept the legitimate authority of the federal government. I know that’s a big statement. But there’s not.
The Constitution is crystal clear on two points. There’s a census once every decade. The count is of all persons in country, and their status is irrelevant. Obviously the Constitution is one thing and what this Supreme Court says is another. I wouldn’t be shocked to see this Supreme Court come up with a way around the crystal clear language and original intent on who is counted in the census. I’m more skeptical that they’ll accept a new one-off census. But they could. It’s a deeply corrupt institution. That’s your path to the dissolution of the union.
