Federal Judge orders census count to continue through October 31

A California federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Census Bureau must continue attempting to count the country's residents through October 31. Judge Lucy Koh issues a preliminary injunction Thursday, forcing the Trump administration to abandon its effort to change the 2020 census schedule.

Koh's ruling reflects her findings that a shortened timeline for the census count would adversely impacted historically underrepresented groups such as people of color and immigrants. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling.

Initially, the administration had asked Congress to pass a four-month extension on the census count, due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But, in July, the administration reversed its first request, asking that the bureau finish the count by September 30. 

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the bureau, requested the truncated timeline to deliver the first set of census results to the president by the end of the year, as mandated by federal law.

According to internal documents from the bureau, reviewed by Judge Koh, shortening the counting timeline would create a heightened risk of serious errors in the final results, which are used not only to redistribute the seats in the House of Representatives, but also to allocate around $1.5 trillion in federal funding per year. 

An attorney for the National Urban League – a group which led a coalition of organizations in the suit against the administration – said, "As the Court recognized, the Census Bureau has itself repeatedly recognized that a full, fair, and accurate count takes time, especially when faced with a historic pandemic."