Supreme Court Delivers Disappointing Ruling on Census Deadlines
- Contact
Washington, DC — October 13, 2020 — The U.S. Supreme Court is staying an order made by lower courts late last month to continue Census 2020 operations through October 31. The decision today allows the Trump administration to end census enumeration and proceed with a December 31 delivery of apportionment data – an action highly contested by civil and human rights organizations because rushing these operations is likely to result in an inaccurate count for vulnerable communities.
John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC issues the following statement in response:
“The Supreme Court’s decision today is unconscionable, but the fight is not over. Right now, Advancing Justice - AAJC is in court with MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) to stop the census count from ending early and hold the Commerce Department to the Census Bureau’s original extension plan of delivering apportionment data in April 2021. Congress also has a role to play in passing bipartisan-sponsored legislation to ensure that the Census Bureau has and uses the time necessary to compile fair and accurate data.
The Supreme Court's ruling today allows Trump to cheat hard-to-count communities of color out of the resources needed for everything from healthcare and education to housing and transportation for the next ten years. Rushing to transmit apportionment data to the president by December 31 would undermine the census and the accuracy of census data.
We will keep fighting in the courts to let the Census Bureau carry out its Constitutional mandate to count all persons and strive for the gold standard of data that is not compromised by political schemes for partisan gain."