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SCOTUS punts on challenge to Trump bid to block undocumented immigrants from apportionment

18 December 2020
 Dan Ackermann

The Supreme Court on Friday threw out a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s plans to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment base used for congressional seat allotment, calling the challenge "premature."

Why it matters: The decision to punt would hypothetically allow the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to exclude undocumented immigrants. But it's unclear whether it is even possible for the administration to follow through on it, and if they did, there could still be legal challenges.

What they're saying: “At present, this case is riddled with contingencies and speculation that impede judicial review," the Supreme Court wrote in an unsigned order, with three dissents.

  • "The President, to be sure, has made clear his desire to exclude aliens without lawful status from the apportionment base. But the President qualified his directive by providing that the Secretary should gather information 'to the extent practicable' and that aliens should be excluded 'to the extent feasible.'"
  • "Any prediction how the Executive Branch might eventually implement this general statement of policy is “no more than conjecture” at this time."

What to watch: Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights project, tweeted: "If the Administration actually tries to implement this policy, we'll sue. Again. And we'll win."

Read the order.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.