Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-366_7647.pdf
Page Number: 1

(Slip Opinion) 

Cite as:  592 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

Per Curiam 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 20–366 
_________________ 

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES, ET AL., APPELLANTS 
v. NEW YORK, ET AL. 

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR 
THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 

[December 18, 2020]

 PER CURIAM. 
Every  ten  years,  the  Nation  undertakes  an  “Enumera-
tion” of its population “in such Manner” as Congress “shall 
by Law direct.”  U. S. Const., Art. I, §2, cl. 3.  This census 
plays a critical role in apportioning Members of the House
of  Representatives  among  the  States,  allocating  federal 
funds to the States, providing information for intrastate re-
districting,  and  supplying  data  for  numerous  initiatives
conducted  by  governmental  entities,  businesses,  and  aca-
demic researchers.  Department of Commerce v. New York, 
588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 2). 

Congress has given both the Secretary of Commerce and
the President functions to perform in the enumeration and 
apportionment process.  The Secretary must “take a decen-
nial census of population . . . in such form and content as he 
may determine,” 13 U. S. C. §141(a), and then must report 
to  the  President  “[t]he  tabulation  of  total  population  by 
States”  under  the  census  “as  required  for  the  apportion-
ment,”  §141(b).  The  President  in  turn  must  transmit  to