After extending deadline to complete fieldwork in light of pandemic, Trump administration turned the tide Critics saw political motive
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to stop counting the census ahead of schedule, a move that could allow the Census Bureau to submit tabs excluding unauthorized immigrants by the end of year
The brief unsigned court order gave no reason, which is typical when the court adjudicates emergency requests It said the tally could stop while appeals progressed
Judge Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying that « the harms associated with an inaccurate census are preventable and intolerable »
The order was a major victory for the Trump administration, which had argued it had to halt census work on the ground to meet a statutory deadline Critics argued that the administration’s plan was aimed at diluting Democratic voting power and would undermine the accuracy of the tally
The administration had proposed several deadlines for completing fieldwork and submitting results In April, after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the work of the Census Bureau, he said he would end relying on October 31 and submit the results in April 2021, after the legal deadline of December 31
The administration changed course in August, ordering fieldwork to be completed by September 30, and delivery of totals by December 31.The move came shortly after the announcement in July that the administration would seek to exclude undocumented immigrants from the total population it will send to Congress for House seat redistribution
The two developments appear to be linked Under the old deadlines, the winner of the presidential election would transmit the population totals Excluding undocumented immigrants from the distribution calculations would generally benefit Republicans
The National Urban League, League of Women Voters, other groups and local governments sued, claiming the rushed timetable would undermine the accuracy of the census and « facilitate another illegal act: removal of power policy of communities of color by excluding undocumented people from the final breakdown of the distribution «
Judge Lucy H Koh, of the United States District Court in Northern California, ordered the office to continue working during the Oct 31 deadline « Because the decennial census is at issue here, an inaccurate count would not be corrected for another decade, » she writes It also suspended the Dec 31 Statutory deadline for the submission of results
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, San Francisco, rejected a request by the Trump administration to stay Justice Koh’s order and allow him to stop counting before the end of the month But the panel said it would not prevent the administration from trying to comply with the dec 31 report deadline
The administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene, saying that only by stopping the work on the ground could the office 31 deadline, which is set by law « The ordinance of district court constitutes an unprecedented intrusion into the ability of the executive to conduct the enumeration as directed by Congress, ”Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey B Wall told judges in a brief filed Wednesday
Supreme Court of the United States, 2020 United States Census, President of Donald Trump, Census, Sonia Sotomayor
World News – United States – Census tally may be abbreviated, Supreme Court rules
