Appellate judges rule 2020 census should continue through October

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to put a hold on the injunction

ORLANDO, Fla. — A panel of three appellate judges on Wednesday upheld a lower court order allowing the 2020 head count of every U.S. resident to continue through October. But the panel struck down a provision that had suspended a year-end deadline for submitting figures used to decide how many congressional seats each state gets.

The ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel in San Francisco upheld part of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s preliminary injunction last month, and rejected part of it.

Koh’s preliminary injunction suspended a Sept. 30 deadline for finishing the 2020 census and a Dec. 31 deadline for submitting numbers used to determine how many congressional seats each state gets — a process known as apportionment. Because of those actions, the deadlines reverted back to a previous Census Bureau plan that had field operations ending Oct. 31 and the reporting of apportionment figures at the end of April.

By issuing the injunction, Koh sided with a coalition of civil rights groups and local governments that had sued the Trump administration, arguing minorities and others in hard-to-count communities would be missed if the counting ended in September instead of October. But Trump administration attorneys had argued the Census Bureau was obligated to meet the congressionally mandated requirement to turn in apportionment numbers by Dec. 31.

Koh also struck down an Oct. 5 end date that the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, had pushed after the injunction, saying it violated her order.

Hours after Wednesday’s ruling, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put an immediate hold on the injunction while it appeals.

Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall wrote in an application to the Supreme Court that the appellate court’s ruling will still force the Census Bureau to violate the Dec. 31 deadline. He added the decision also conflicts with the district judge’s rationale for issuing the injunction, calling it “an unprecedented intrusion” into the Trump administration’s ability to conduct the census.

“Because courts are not equipped to manage census operations, it is not surprising that the district court erred in its assessment of how accurate the census will be,” Wall said.

Supporters of the longer head count schedule praised the decision.

“The courts keep speaking, even if the Trump administration is not listening,” said Julie Menin, who heads New York City’s census outreach efforts. “The Trump administration has lost time and time again in their attempts to interfere with the 2020 Census, and we welcome the Ninth Circuit’s decision, which preserves a fair and accurate census timeline.”