On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted the Trump Administration’s request to cease the census count.
Before their decision, the administration sought “immediate relief” from the “high court” to avoid a lower court order, which would have caused the census count to continue until October 31. The administration claimed that it would have left Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross unable to give Donald Trump a count of America’s population by the end of the year.
The outcome turned into a triumph for the administration, which believed that a shorter time frame would be important in providing the Commerce Department with enough time to meet the end of the year deadline. The count was previously delayed by the coronavirus.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor reportedly disagreed with the order out of fear that the shortened deadline could lead to inaccurate results.
“Because the harms associated with an inaccurate census are avoidable and intolerable, I respectfully dissent from the grant of stay,” she wrote.
Attorneys representing the groups that filed a suit against the administration informed CNN that they will determine their response by waiting to see the Census Bureau’s next moves.
“Every day has mattered, and the Supreme Court’s order staying the preliminary injunction does not erase the tremendous progress that has been made as a result of the district court’s rulings,” Melissa Arbus Sherry, an attorney at Latham and Watkins who argued the case in the trial court, said in a statement.
San Jose, California, Mayor Sam Liccardo, whose city was among those suing the Trump administration, told reporters that they will move forward with the suit in the lower courts. If successful, they will “immediately” ask for the Census Bureau to head back into society and count individuals later this year.
However, according to Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, such a decision could be hard to execute.
“This stay is effectively the end of it,” he said.
