A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to continue counting for the 2020 U.S. census until the end of October rather than end it early on Monday.
In a ruling late Thursday that was overshadowed by news that President Trump had contracted COVID-19, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose called Census Bureau messages sent out late last month announcing Oct. 5 as the target date to end the count an “egregious violation” of an earlier order she made.
Koh ordered that the government send a new text message to all Census Bureau employees on Friday stating that data collection operations would continue until the end of the month.
She also ordered Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham to file a declaration by Monday “that unequivocally confirms … compliance with the Injunction Order.” The Trump administration said in August it planned to shorten the census timeline by a month.
It was sued by municipalities and civil rights groups, which argued the “rushed” schedule would lead to inaccurate census results and “a massive undercount of the country’s communities of color.”
The census count’s accuracy is critical, as the survey determines how the House of Representatives and state legislatures will draw voting districts during the next round of redistricting and guides the federal government in allocating $1.5 trillion a year in aid.
States with large immigrant populations like California and New York stood to lose House seats and federal funds if their residents were significantly undercounted.
Koh issued a preliminary injunction last month barring the administration from winding down the count by Sept. 30.
The Census Bureau, which is under the Commerce Department, counts all Americans every 10 years. It had suspended field collection in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
— Reuters
