As the administration desperately moves to rearrange the deck chairs on its ill-conceived plan to turn the 2020 census into a partisan exercise, the sight of Justice Department lawyers struggling to come up with a reason for — or even a description of — what they are doing has become downright surreal.
But even if the administration in the end does not manage to quiz every United States resident on his or her citizenship status, the damage may already have been done.
This is where Utah politicians — who usually experience no greater joy than in pointing to how the federal government has messed everything up — have a chance to stand up and show that they can do better.