Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced Oct. 2 that the national coalition of local governments, including the City of Los Angeles, and numerous civil rights organizations have won an order blocking the Trump Administration’s most recent effort to end the 2020 Census early.
The order, issued Oct. 1 by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California, confirms that the census count must continue through Oct. 31. The court rejected the Trump Administration’s latest effort to prematurely terminate the count on Monday, Oct. 5.
“The court’s ruling is a victory for everyone who relies on an accurate census count for key federal funding and fair political representation,” said Feuer. “Outreach and counting must continue through October, and Judge Koh made it utterly clear that she will not tolerate any further Trump Administration efforts to cut this vital process short. The Administration must stop playing games with this fundamental constitutional requirement and ensure the hard work of counting every American is accomplished.”
Feuer and the national coalition sued the administration in August over its last-minute decision to compress 8.5 months of data collection and processing into just 4.5 months. This four-month reduction would make it impossible to count every person – both in the city and across the nation.
The national coalition of plaintiffs includes the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Salinas, and San Jose, along with Harris County, Texas, King County, Washington, Los Angeles County, the Navajo Nation, the Gila River Indian Community, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, the National Urban League, NAACP, League of Women Voters, and Harris County Court Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia.
The City Attorney’s Census Litigation Team – Managing Senior Assistant City Attorney Valerie Flores and Deputy City Attorneys Mike Dundas and Danielle Goldstein – are handling the litigation for Los Angeles.