Tuesday's federal court ruling blocking Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' scandalous attempt to wedge a citizenship question onto the 2020 Census gives states rich with the foreign-born a fighting chance at a fair count when the once-a-decade survey starts.
Which means a fighting chance at fair representation in Congress and in the Electoral College, and for the funds we're owed for federal programs.
"Is this person a citizen of the United States?" will remain where it belongs, in smaller annual surveys, leaving the main census focused on the complete headcount _ "the whole number of persons in each State" _ the Constitution requires.
So sloppily did Ross force the question that his actions practically begged a court to find the process arbitrary and capricious, as Manhattan District Court Judge Jesse Furman did. Based on exhaustive testimony from experts, Furman determined that adding the question will cause droves of noncitizens to avoid responding.
The Trump administration may well appeal Furman's devastating ruling, in a case waged by former New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood and the New York Immigration Coalition.
Any honest appeals court will uphold the decision. Already, the litigation has forced into the open evidence of breathtakingly dishonest maneuverings from Ross, whose fraudulent memo of justification, deceptive testimony to Congress and correspondence scheming with immigrant vote-suppression crusader Kris Kobach warrant the Commerce secretary's resignation.
Immigrants living in the land of liberty need to hear the ruling's message loud and clear: Yes, you do count.
