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  • PRESS RELEASE
    13, October 2020
    LatinoJustice Statement on The Supreme Court’s Decision Allowing Bureau to Abruptly End Census Count

LatinoJustice Statement on The Supreme Court’s Decision Allowing Bureau to Abruptly End Census Count

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2020

 CONTACT
Elianne Ramos, [email protected]

LatinoJustice Statement on The Supreme Court’s Decision Allowing Bureau to Abruptly End Census Count

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States granted the Trump administration’s request for a stay of a Federal District Court order which by its terms had enjoined the Census Bureau’s decision to end the Census count on September 30th, and directing the Census Bureau to continue its count until October 31st,, 2020 as the Bureau had announced earlier this year given the Covid-19 pandemic impact on the agency’s ability to complete a full and complete count. The Census Bureau is now free to immediately conclude its Census count at any time in order to meet its purported mandate to present a complete count to the President by December 31, 2020. In light of this news, which will adversely impact the Latino community for the next decade, LatinoJustice issued the following statement:

“We condemn the Supreme Court’s order staying the Federal District Court decision mandating the Census Bureau to continue its count until the end of October, which will abruptly end the Census count in the midst of a global pandemic. This decision will directly impact the participation of Latino communities, compromise count accuracy, and contribute to deprive entire communities of color of much needed resources, political power and representation,” said José Pérez, Deputy General Counsel at LatinoJustice. 

Justice Sotomayor’s six page dissent from today’s improvident order succinctly spelled out the inconsistent positions, half-truths and specious claims proffered by the Trump administration as to its need to rush to complete the census count by December 31st, which will result in “irreparable harm and suffering for the next decade.   

LatinoJustice calls upon Congress to act immediately and pass the 2020 Census Deadline Extensions Act (S. 4571) which would extend statutory reporting deadlines to ensure an accurate data count. At stake are federal funding and political representation for Latino communities over the next decade.

As of this moment, households can still respond online at 2020Census.gov, by calling 844-330-2020, or by answering questions from an enumerator at their door. The Census website is still active so please encourage everyone to continue to fill it out ASAP!

 

ABOUT LATINOJUSTICE

LatinoJustice PRLDEF works to create a more just society by using and challenging the rule of law to secure transformative, equitable and accessible justice, by empowering our community and by fostering leadership through advocacy and education. For more than 40 years, LatinoJustice PRLDEF has acted as an advocate against injustices throughout New York and beyond. To learn more about LatinoJustice, visit www.latinojustice.org.