Carrie Severino: Census controversy reflects 'attempts to push back on the very concept of citizenship'

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SCOTUS set to hear case on adding citizenship question to 2020 census

Carrie Severino and Elizabeth Wydra weigh in on upcoming United States Supreme Court cases.

Carrie Severino, chief counsel to the Judicial Crisis Network, defended President Trump's decision to add a citizenship question to the Census and suggested that debate over the issue indicated a deeper problem.

"This is something that should be totally unremarkable," Severino said on Saturday while appearing on "America's News HQ."

"The fact it's even being challenged shows a disturbing trend towards attempts to push back on the very concept of citizenship and its frightening to think there could be several justices in the [Supreme] Court who would suggest that's not even an appropriate question."

The citizenship question faced review by the Supreme Court which is expected to announce its ruling on the issue in the Summer of 2019. The question came under scrutiny after news surfaced that one of its proponents pushed the questions as a way to help Republicans electorally.

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It also faced criticism from Democrats who predicted it would skew estimates that contributed to decisions about federal funding.

But for Severino, the question's inclusion was "common sense." "This is a question that should really be unremarkable. The citizenship question has been on some form of the U.S. Census for the vast majority of its history," she said.

She added that "it is very foundational that a country ought to know how many citizens it has. It's something the United Nations recommends its member nations do."

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Elizabeth B. Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, argued that was just a "cover up" reason since citizenship information was already available from other sources.

Severino, in response, pushed back on the idea that people would refuse to answer the question, saying that they decline to answer that question at similar rates to the question of whether they're married or not.