Supreme Court orders census count to stop while Trump administration litigates dispute

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday the Trump administration may halt the 2020 census count while a lower court ruling ordering it to continue is decided on appeal. 

In the ruling, which was unsigned, the court said the Trump administration's request for a stay on a lower court decision—one ordering the census count to continue until Oct. 31—would be permitted "pending disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit."

The Trump administration is seeking a shortened timeline of the census count in what the White House says is an effort to ensure the count can be adequately prepared and delivered to the president by Dec. 31 of this year. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the lone dissenting judge on Tuesday's ruling. "Because the harms associated with an inaccurate census are avoidable and intolerable, I respectfully dissent from the grant of stay," she wrote. 

You can read the ruling here.