Continuing his attack on the upcoming census, President Donald Trump on Sunday said that the exercise costs "billions" and is not effective as it does not include any question on citizenship.
Trump's remark comes days after US Supreme Court had blocked the administration from putting a question on the 2020 census asking about citizenship for the time being.
"The census was shocking to me. I figured it would be not expensive to do a census. It's billions of dollars. You know that right? Billions. Billions... They're not allowed to ask whether or not somebody is a citizen of the United States," The Hill quoted Trump as saying.
Soon after the court ruling on Thursday, Trump threatened to delay the census which will decide the allocation of congressional seats and the distribution of billions of federal dollars to states and localities over the next decade.
"I have asked the lawyers if they can delay the Census, no matter how long, until the United States Supreme Court is given additional information from which it can make a final and decisive decision on this very critical matter," he said in a pair of tweets at 2:30 a.m. local time while in Osaka, Japan.
"Can anyone really believe that as a great Country, we are not able the ask whether or not someone is a Citizen," Trump wrote, "Only in America!"
Trump's critics have argued in the court that the question is an attempt to intimidate non-citizen and Hispc households. They also contended that it will lead to a decline in response rates and under-representation of minorities, who typically vote Democrats.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts demanded a better explanation from the Commerce Department in order to allow the inclusion of the citizenship question in the census form.
"If judicial review is to be more than an empty ritual, it must demand something better than the explanation offered for the action taken in this case," Roberts wrote.
( With inputs from ANI )