Census data release is slated under Biden

A high-stakes six-month battle over who should be counted for representation in Congress ended quietly in a judge’s chamber Friday night when the Trump administration agreed not to release any population numbers from the 2020 Census for congressional apportionment or redistricting before the president leaves office.

Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California approved the agreement, which also stipulates a three-week pause in a lawsuit challenging the government’s timeline for completing and processing the decennial count. The stay will allow the Biden administration to assess its position in the case.

The suit was brought by the National Urban League and a group of counties, cities, advocacy groups and individuals who said a truncated schedule would irreparably harm communities that might be undercounted.

Since then, the administration has pushed to get data to the president before he leaves office, culminating last week in reports from bureau whistleblowers that political appointees were pressuring them to release data by Friday, regardless of its accuracy.

The agreement also bars the government from releasing any citizenship data for apportionment or redistricting, information Trump requested in 2019 after the Supreme Court blocked his administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the census.

Craig Ruttle / Associated Press A bus that careened off a New York City road dangles from an overpass. The driver blamed the crash on mechanical failure. The Metropolitan Transit Authority said the driver has been “withheld from service without pay” amid an investigation.