/Supreme Court grants Trump administration request to end Census count

Supreme Court grants Trump administration request to end Census count

The Trump administration says they need to move on to the analysis phase.

The Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to end the Census count as soon as possible, overturning a federal court order requiring the Census Bureau to continue the count until Oct. 31.

The lawsuit that prompted the case was brought by civil rights groups including the National Urban League who argue the administration’s push to end the counting process early, despite an earlier push to extend the process to account for delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, would lead to inaccurate data that would disproportionately hurt disadvantaged communities.

The administration argued it needed to stop the count as soon as possible to complete data analysis in time to meet the statutory deadline to report Census information to the president and Congress by Dec. 31.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying the harm from an inaccurate count is irreparable and the administration has previously said the deadlines would be impossible to meet anyway.

The Supreme Court has not yet decided in a separate case on whether the administration can exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment process used to determine congressional districts. They could decide to hear oral arguments on that case.

This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.

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