Census

Today, a third federal court blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to omit undocumented immigrants from the census numbers for the apportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. District for the District of Maryland, in Useche v. Trump, ruled that President Trump’s memorandum ordering this unprecedented change  violates U.S. statutes governing the census and apportionment.

Rhode Island is one of about 10 states projected to lose a congressional seat, based on anticipated state population figures in the 2020 census. It could take as few as 30,000 overlooked people for the nation’s physically smallest state to revert back to having a single House district, said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a nonprofit watchdog.  The early conclusion of the census “is really going to stymie our efforts, not only to maintain that second district but also to have fair representation in our state legislature,” Marion said.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a federal District Court decision and allowed the government to stop counting households two weeks earlier than planned. In a media briefing call today, community leaders described how their states would be affected by the sudden end to census counting and shortened data processing timeline.

“Everybody is leaning in hard to try to make sure they can reach as many people as possible,” said Kathay Feng, an official with Common Cause, the good-government advocacy group.

Every American deserves a voice in our democracy. Today’s U.S. Supreme Court stay of a lower court order allows the Trump administration to shut down the census early. With potentially millions of Americans still uncounted, this Supreme Court decision is a blow to our democracy.

The Trump administration attorneys said the lawsuit was premature since it’s impossible to know who will be affected by the exclusion order before the head count is finished and whether the Census Bureau will come up with a method for figuring out who is a citizen. But Gregory Diskant, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, Common Cause, said waiting to challenge the president’s memo until after the apportionment numbers are turned in would create even greater problems.