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Judge Issues Temporary Restraining Order Against Census Bureau : NPR
Updated at 5:15 a.m. ET Sunday
The Trump administration must, for now, stop winding down in-person counting efforts for the 2020 census, a federal judge in California ordered Saturday, while a legal fight over the shortened schedule for the national head count continues.
The temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California comes after challengers led by the National Urban League filed an emergency request as part of a federal lawsuit — both of which cite NPR’s reporting. The order is expected to remain in effect until a court hearing is held on Sept. 17 for the plaintiffs’ request for a court order that would require counting to continue through the end of October.
A coalition that includes civil rights groups and local governments, as well as the Navajo Nation and the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, is trying to force the Census Bureau to abandon a last-minute schedule change that cuts counting a month short to end on Sept. 30, instead of Oct. 31, which was originally chosen by the bureau to make up for delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Today’s ruling buys the census some precious and indispensable time by barring the administration from shutting down the count while the federal courts are still considering our request for relief,” Thomas Wolf, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice who is helping to represent the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
[…]
But the bureau’s chief spokesperson, Michael Cook, tells NPR that the agency is preparing guidance to distribute soon to workers at its regional and local offices about how to comply with the court order.
The judge concluded that the order is needed now because the challengers are likely to suffer from “irreparable harm.”
[…]
“It is difficult to bring back field staff once we have terminated their employment,” warned Fontenot, who suggested that the earlier a court were to order the administration to extend counting, the more census workers the bureau would likely have on staff.
Without that extra time, the challengers are concerned that the bureau will not be able to adequately conduct the constitutionally mandated count of every person living in the U.S., especially people of color, immigrants and those in other historically undercounted groups.
In response to a question by NPR during a July 8 press briefing, Fontenot said the bureau was “past the window” of being able to provide the latest census numbers to the president by Dec. 31.
[…]
Updated at 5:15 a.m. ET Sunday
The Trump administration must, for now, stop winding down in-person counting efforts for the 2020 census, a federal judge in California ordered Saturday, while a legal fight over the shortened schedule for the national head count continues.
The temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California comes after challengers led by the National Urban League filed an emergency request as part of a federal lawsuit — both of which cite NPR’s reporting. The order is expected to remain in effect until a court hearing is held on Sept. 17 for the plaintiffs’ request for a court order that would require counting to continue through the end of October.
A coalition that includes civil rights groups and local governments, as well as the Navajo Nation and the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, is trying to force the Census Bureau to abandon a last-minute schedule change that cuts counting a month short to end on Sept. 30, instead of Oct. 31, which was originally chosen by the bureau to make up for delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Today’s ruling buys the census some precious and indispensable time by barring the administration from shutting down the count while the federal courts are still considering our request for relief,” Thomas Wolf, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice who is helping to represent the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
[…]
But the bureau’s chief spokesperson, Michael Cook, tells NPR that the agency is preparing guidance to distribute soon to workers at its regional and local offices about how to comply with the court order.
The judge concluded that the order is needed now because the challengers are likely to suffer from “irreparable harm.”
[…]
“It is difficult to bring back field staff once we have terminated their employment,” warned Fontenot, who suggested that the earlier a court were to order the administration to extend counting, the more census workers the bureau would likely have on staff.
Without that extra time, the challengers are concerned that the bureau will not be able to adequately conduct the constitutionally mandated count of every person living in the U.S., especially people of color, immigrants and those in other historically undercounted groups.
In response to a question by NPR during a July 8 press briefing, Fontenot said the bureau was “past the window” of being able to provide the latest census numbers to the president by Dec. 31.
[…]