A federal judge in California has enjoined the Census Bureau from truncating the census count by a month.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced that it would cut short the data collection period for the 2020 census by a month from the original plan to compensate for COVID affecting operations of the federal government. The shortened deadline was due to expire at the end of this month, but the judge’s order in a case brought by the Urban League blocks the enforcement of the new deadline.
This means that for now, data collection for the 2020 census can continue until the end of October. The extended October deadline was originally set and asked for by career officials at the Census Bureau, which the Trump-appointed head of the Bureau later overruled.
While the administration is likely to appeal and this may not be the final call, at this moment the ruling is critically important for the future of this country, what Congress will look like in the next decade, and how federal dollars will be distributed. An accurate census count is essential to the democratic franchise upon which the very bedrock of the rest of the system rests.
If you have not completed your census yet, do it now.