Supreme Court blocks bid to stop Trump plan to exclude illegal immigrants from census, redistricting

The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge Friday to block the Trump administration's effort to exclude illegal immigrants from the U.S. census count and from being counted toward congressional redistricting. 

The conservative majority on the high court ruled that it would be premature to block the president's plan before such a time as it was implemented. 

"We express no view on the merits of the constitutional and related statutory claims presented. We hold only that they are not suitable for adjudication at this time," wrote the court of the case Trump v. New York. "At present, this case is riddled with contingencies and speculation that impede judicial review."

The three liberal justices dissented publicly, saying that the high court should rule now that President Trump does not have the authority to exclude illegal immigrants from the congressional redistricting process. 

Justice Stephen Breyer, who joined in his opinion with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, wrote "The plain meaning of the governing statutes, decades of historical practice, and uniform interpretations from all three branches of government demonstrate that aliens without lawful status cannot be excluded from the decennial census solely on account of that status."

"The government’s effort to remove them from the apportionment base is unlawful, and I believe this court should say so," he continued.