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The American public must have confidence in the leadership of Census Bureau to ensure everyone is counted accurately. Public outrage met reports that Thomas Brunell would be named deputy director, a slot that does not require Senate confirmation, but that he would in fact lead the Census. The controversy was well founded. Brunell’s controversial background as an academic who regular testified in support Republican gerrymanders would have politicized the national headcount.

Politics have no business in the Census but the Trump Administration’s leading candidate for the deputy director slot at the Census Bureau, Thomas Brunell, would introduce blatant partisan politics into the national headcount. Discontent from Capitol Hill over Brunell’s political partisanship may have scuttled his candidacy for the top slot at the bureau but as deputy director he skirts the confirmation process.

The Census Bureau plans to count 2 million prisoners in a way that discriminates against other Americans