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NEWS DECEMBER 7, 2020 ¦ 11

Census dominates The census reared its head again in federal court
Perhaps no line of litigation has proved more illu- this summer as Trump issued a memo directing
minating of—or consequential for—Trump officials’ undocumented immigrants be excluded from the
reluctance to comply with orders than those involv- population count used to determine how many
ing the 2020 census. congressional seats each state receives. As special
The administration’s attempt to add a question on three-judge courts across the country heard lawsuits
citizenship to the decennial survey triggered multi- challenging the new memo, the administration also
ple lawsuits, as officials maintained they needed the sought to end census operations earlier than an ex-
data in order to enforce the Voting Rights Act. But tension granted due to the pandemic.
the U.S. Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern
Roberts, last year ruled 5-4 that the facts of the case District of California blocked the census’s early
didn’t match the explanation, and end. But the Commerce Depart-
ruled that officials had to provide ment—which oversees the
their actual stated reason in order census—quickly announced it
to add such a question. would end operations just days
The ruling seemed to put an end after the new end date that Koh
to any attempt to include the ques- blocked, and not the original final
tion on this year’s census—but day that Koh intended officials to
Trump soon after said he would follow.
still try to have the question in- Groups behind the lawsuit
cluded on the survey. The chaotic Federal judges have quickly called for sanctions, and
turn of events resulted in a federal Koh said officials violated her rul-
court hearing in Maryland where repeatedly found Trump ing “in several ways.” The judge
one Justice Department attor- administration officials said if the administration defied
ney said he didn’t know anything are simply not complying her order again, officials could be
beyond the president’s tweet, be- with court orders they’ve held in contempt or face sanctions.
fore another government lawyer issued, but officials have
stepped in and said the adminis- rarely faced consequences “Defendants’ dissemination of
erroneous information; lurching
for their defiance.

tration was exploring its options from one hasty, unexplained plan
on adding the question. to the next; and unlawful sacrifices
The department then announced of completeness and accuracy of
it was pulling its entire litigation the 2020 Census are upending the
team over the question, but that ef- status quo, violating the Injunc-
fort was stymied by federal judges tion Order, and undermining the
overseeing the cases, who insisted credibility of the Census Bureau
on explanations for the total disap- and the 2020 Census,” Koh wrote.
pearance of the original government lawyers. Trump “This must stop.”
eventually conceded that effort, instead issuing an ex-
ecutive order on collecting citizenship data through Officials, not DOJ, face consequences
other means. It doesn’t appear that the judges’ remarks have
As a result of the dropped cases, the Trump DOJ had much impact on the Justice Department’s cred-
agreed to pay more than $9 million in legal fees over ibility in court. Sullivan, in condemning the actions
several civil lawsuits. Furman, the Southern District of Trump administration officials, specifically sepa-
of New York judge, in one case granted sanctions rated the DOJ lawyer representing them from his
against the administration for failing to turn over complaints.
emails tied to the litigation.
¦ Continued on PAGE 12

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