U.S. Supreme Court Allows Early Census Completion

SCOTUS Rules: Census Count Can Finish Earlier Than Oct. 31

Summary

The US Supreme Court sided with the Trump Administration in a case involving this year’s census count, allowing the Department of Commerce, which runs the Census Bureau, to end the count earlier than October 31^st.

• After initially announcing an extended end-date of October 31^st due to the coronavirus pandemic, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross moved the end of the counting phase to September 30^th.
• This date was pushed back to October 5^th, but the deadline was reverted back to October 31^st by a lower federal court’s ruling.
• The Commerce Department moved the counting end-date up to ensure the analysis and tabulation is completed by December 31^st, a date mandated by law.
• The census, conducted every ten years, is used to determine congressional apportionment and federal funding allocation.
• The ruling does not officially force the counting to stop. It allows the Census Bureau to pause counting while a separate lawsuit regarding the Trump Administration’s efforts to exclude illegal immigrants in the count proceeds through federal court.
• The various counting end-dates are all later than the original July 31^st target date, which was revised as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This was not the first controversy surrounding the 2020 Census. The Supreme Court previously ruled the Census Bureau could not include a question on respondents’ citizenship because the Bureau did not follow the proper administrative procedure.

• Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) reacted negatively, tweeting the ruling is an attempt to “undermine democracy”, and tied it to the current nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
• Slate said the ruling was a “sabotage” of the Census, and accused the court of allowing the Trump Administration to purposely undercount minority communities.

• The Census Bureau announced 99.9% of all households have been counted as of October 13^th, strengthening the argument for ending the counting phase before the previously court-mandated October 31^st deadline.
• Wall Street Journal notes that Mississippi and Louisiana sided with the administration’s efforts while the fight over shortening the deadline played out in lower federal courts.
• The Washington Times, called the ruling a “victory” for the Trump Administration, and reports the vast majority of census respondents submit answers online or via mail.
• The top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, Representative James Comer (R-KY), praised the Supreme Court’s decision as a “sensible, lawful decision on behalf of the American people to ensure the 2020 census is completed on time.”

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© Dallas Gerber, 2020