I don’t see how doing this through an executive order helps at all. The issue is not whether the President (or Commerce Secretary) has the right to add a citizenship question, per the Supreme Court’s Department of Commerce decision last week. The issue instead is whether there is a good enough reason for including the question that is not a pretext.
It seems stronger for that reason to come from the Commerce Secretary and the Census Bureau than declared in an executive order.
In any case, I wrote at Slate that I believed Chief Justice Roberts left the door open to the government coming forward with a new reason, but I have to believe he is put off by this amateur hour maneuvering.