Census ordered to keep counting
Judge says bureau violated her orders with plans to stop
Two Houston census workers on Friday had identical outgoing messages, stating in their own voices, “I have now completed my service with the 2020 census.”
A census taker at a national call center said the deadline to complete the once-in-a-decade form was Monday, and a census employee in Dallas said therewas no specific deadline to complete the census. A federal judge in San Jose said the census must remain open until Oct. 31.
Based on scattered reports from census employees locally and nationally — some of whom were explicitly told not to answer the “when is the deadline?” question from reporters — it appeared the deadline for completing the census was unknown or unclear. But by day’s end on Friday, the census had informed its foot soldiers they should carry on accepting forms and counting people through the end of the month.
The confusion and chaos about the cutoff date comes after months of wrangling between government officials who are focused on statutory requirements and community advocates who feel it’s imperative to aim for a complete count, especially in vulnerable communities amid an unprecedented global pandemic.
A sharply worded edict from the federal judge Thursday ordered the nationwide count to continue through the end of October, instructing Trump administration officials to retract an impromptu announcement that data collection would end on Monday. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose also insisted they show proof in the coming days that they’d followed up on her instructions.
Koh’s order admonishes offi-
cials in the Census Bureau and Commerce Department for overriding her ruling last week that shortening the time period in an effort to meet statutory deadlines would cause irreparable harm. By officials’ owncalculations, she noted, it would result in a census with “fatal data quality flaws that are unacceptable for a Constitutionally-mandated activity.”
Changing the goal date repeatedly has a ripple effect, especially in hard-to-count communities, according to evidence in the case.
One example the judge cites in her order Thursday is Harris County’s outreach at 150 events including food giveaways where the Oct. 31 deadline was cited. Koh said the Harris County is now forced to spend additional funds to avoid confusion and ensure that peoplewho have not responded get counted in time.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said billions of dollars of federal funding are at stake for Houston.
“Regardless of how often the goal post is moved, the goal remains the same — counting each Houstonian and securing funding for critical community programs for the next 10 years,” the mayor said. “Our self-response rate is notwherewewant it to be, so we need to use these next few
weeks to keep the momentum moving forward and drive the rate higher.”
He added that the census form is easy to complete and takes about 10 minutes: “If you haven’t taken the census yet, please do it as soon as possible. There is no reason to wait and no reason to be afraid. There is no citizenship question, and data cannot be shared with any other governmental agency.”
The county as well as Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia are parties in the California case, which seeks to ensure a fair count and equitable access to resources and political power.
“We became plaintiffs in this lawsuit to protect our residents from suffering inequities — including racial and economic inequities — that would stem from an undercount,” Ellis explained. “The residents of this county all depend on an accurate census to ensure that we have the funding resources and governmental representation we deserve.”
Census officials extended the deadline in mid-April after the coronavirus pandemic took hold, setting Oct. 31 as the new deadline. In August, officials announced they planned to bump up the end date to Sept. 30, prompting a court challenge by civil rights groups, civic organizations, and tribal and local governments.
The judge last week issued a
preliminary injunction enjoining the government from curtailing its count. But in the days following that, she said in her order, federal agencies issued contradictory instructions to fieldworkers in violation of her order.
Workers were told operations were wrapping up on Monday. But the “most egregious violation” came in a tweet just days after her order. The Census Bureau tweeted, “The Secretary of Commerce has announced a target date of October 5, 2020 to conclude 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations.” and followed up with a
press release that was equally brief and lacking in explanation. Koh did not mince words. “Defendants’ dissemination of erroneous information; lurching from one hasty, unexplained plan to the next; and unlawful sacrifices of completeness and accuracy of the 2020 Census are upending the status quo, violating the Injunction Order, and undermining the credibility of the Census Bureau and the 2020 Census. This must stop,” she wrote.
She ordered the Census Bureau to send a text on Friday to all census employees notifying them of her order and explaining that the Oct. 5, 2020 “target date” is no longer in effect. The text must clarify that data collection will continue through Oct. 31. In addition, she ordered Steven Dillingham, director of the census, to file a declaration by Monday swearing under oath that he intends to continue to comply with the court’s injunction.
If they do not comply with her orders, Koh has the ability to issue sanctions or hold officials in contempt.
“With this directive, Judge Koh has shown that partisan schemes to undermine our democracy are intolerable,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which represents the plaintiffs in the case. “This ruling makes it explicitly clear that the Trump administration must continue counting the Census through Oct. 31, ensuring our most vulnerable and underrepresented communities will not be disadvantaged by an incomplete count.”
“The administration’s attempt to stop the Census operations early was distinctly aimed at depriving racial minorities and other marginalized communities of the federal resources and political representation they rightfully deserve,” Clarke said.