On the district court rulings that the planned "citizenship" question in the next Census is unconstitutional

Alan Dershowitz says this is a difficult Constitutional question.  https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2019/03/07/census-citizenship-question-us-democracy/?fbclid=IwAR0nwvO66iFUNeNxQc8GBDl1W0heIEYTUYN3LsEbSzopqh2bYZ6xqRT3xYg  Well, the case law does allow the Government to collect additional information when conducting the Census. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/census-constitution.html

But it seems pretty plain that if the intent of a particular question (or even the impact, even if there is no intent) is to suppress the actual count of persons, then it would be unconstitutional, as the district court judges have found.

To see why, in addition to the actual evidence of intent here, take a look at the

relevant provision from Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution:

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.” https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/Article_1_Section_2.pdf

The language speaks of “Numbers of free persons,” not “citizens.”   If the five Republican appointees to the Supreme Court are true to their professed view that the Constitution should be taken literally as written, they cannot, in good faith, rule that the “citizenship” question is permissible, given the clear evidence of intent that it is intended to scare people from filling out the Census Forms.