On Thursday, a federal district court judge extended a temporary restraining order barring the Census Bureau from wrapping up its counting operations in order to deliver census results on its statutory time schedule. The plaintiffs in the case are asking the court to compel the Bureau to take more time to complete the nationwide count since it was delayed earlier this Spring due to Covid-19. Listen below to NPR’s quick update on how and why this happened.
In March, the Bureau had requested an extension of many of its statutory deadlines to deliver data to states, including the apportionment and redistricting data. The Trump administration later rescinded that request, forcing the Bureau to shorten some of its work phases to meet a December deadline for delivering congressional apportionment data, and an April 1 2021 statutory deadline for delivering redistricting data files to states.
On a video conference with state officials last week, Bureau officials were still “unsure” of whether they would be able to meet those deadlines. The restraining order extension likely frustrates that goal even further.
In the meantime, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has sponsored a bill that would extend census deadlines, but there is no certainty whether it can make it through both houses.
