US Supreme Court Allows Trump To Wind Down Census Early

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to wind down population counting for the 2020 U.S. census earlier than originally planned, in a blow to civil rights groups concerned…

ReutersOct 13, 20203 min read

Sponsored

count’s accuracy is critical, as it determines how the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures draw voting districts during the next round of redistricting and guides the federal government in allocating $1.5 trillion a year in aid.

The plaintiffs argued that the “rushed” schedule would lead to inaccurate Census results and “a massive undercount of the country’s communities of color.” They said in an Oct. 10 filing that a ruling for the Trump administration would allow it “to stop the 2020 Census count, shut down field operations, fire hundreds of thousands of employees, and start processing data the very next day.”

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, has repeatedly ruled against the Census Bureau, saying the accelerated schedule would likely produce inaccurate numbers.

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the only justice who publicly dissented, said the Supreme Court’s action would allow the Census Bureau to “sacrifice accuracy for expediency.”

The Justice Department, arguing for the Census Bureau, said complaints about the time line should be raised with Congress, which can extend the statutory deadline.

“Contrary to what Plaintiffs may think, the Bureau is not free to disregard a statutory deadline in pursuit of some ethereal notion of a better Census,” Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing.

Melissa Arbus Sherry of Latham & Watkins, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said lower-court rulings in the litigation had resulted in millions of Americans being counted.

“Every day has mattered, and the Supreme Court’s order staying the preliminary injunction does not erase the tremendous progress that has been made as a result of the district court’s rulings,” Sherry said in a statement.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Chris Reese and Peter Cooney)