With high court’s decision, 2020 census is likely in its final hours
The brief unsigned order formally only puts the national headcount on pause while the Trump administration and census advocacy groups continue to battle it out in a federal appeals court
With the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowing the Trump administration to halt the 2020 census, Census Bureau officials said Internet self-response will be available across the nation through late Wednesday and into the pre- dawn hours of Thursday.
In a press release issued shortly after the high court shut down what has been an unusually fraught once- a- decade national headcount, Bureau officials said the census would end at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday Hawaii Standard Time, at 3 a.m. Thursday Pacific Standard Time and 6 a.m. Thursday Eastern Standard Time. Field data collection operations for the census also ended Wednesday.
Questionnaire responses also ended Wednesday and required an Oct. 15 postmark, and phone responses to 844- 330-2020 in English and 844- 468-2020 in Spanish ended as well.
The court’s brief unsigned order formally only puts the headcount on pause while the administration and census advocacy groups continue to battle it out in a federal appeals court to determine if the count can be stopped early instead of continuing to its previously approved Oct. 31 deadline.
However, the court’s decision almost certainly ensures the early end, considering the census — among the largest government efforts, involving hundreds of thousands of workers — cannot be readily restarted.
T he cour t ’ s decision came as the pandemic swept across the nation, delaying the count and pushing the deadline forward, and as President Trump, instead of adopting a nonpar tisan approach, insisted the headcount should exclude undocumented immigrants living in the United States, despite the Constitution, in Article 1, Section 2, calling for a count of “every” person living in the country on April 1 during the census year.
Data from the census is used to determine representation in the House of Representatives and in state and local governments. The numbers also determine the distribution of billions of dollars annually to communities nationwide for education, public safety, hospitals, infrastructure planning, commercial investment and marketing decisions, among other things.