Statement by President-Elect Joe Biden on the U.S. Supreme Court Case on the Census

The Census will determine the future of our country for the next decade. It helps us decide where and how we invest in the health and safety of our nation — everything from whether children can attend a good school and eat a warm lunch, families can drink clean water and breathe clean air, and people have access to basic health care and good jobs.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a case about whether everyone in America will be counted in the Census for the purpose of apportionment of Congressional seats, as the Constitution plainly and clearly requires. Or whether the partisan politics of intimidation and xenophobia will intentionally exclude specific groups of people from being counted. It's a case about whether we deny our ability to govern responsibly and undermine our fidelity to our laws and values as a government of, by, and for all people.

In America, we make ourselves heard when we fill out the Census to be counted. It's a critical way the power of the nation resides in the people. That's America. We can't keep rewriting history, scrambling norms, and ignoring the Constitution and the precedents we abide by. It is my hope the Supreme Court does the right thing. And, Congress must give the experts at the Census the time to make sure everyone gets counted accurately. Let everyone be counted and let us begin the work to heal and unite our nation.