Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin to Halt Census While Appeals Court Hears Case

What’s the story?

• The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a request by the Trump administration to stop its headcount of the decennial Census while a lawsuit concerning the issue plays out in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 
• The Supreme Court’s decision comes after U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California suspended the Census’s September 30th deadline for completing its headcount and a December 31st deadline established by Congress for submitting data for determining congressional apportionment. 
• The Census then picked an October 5th deadline, which Koh also struck down, although an appellate court panel partially reversed her ruling to reinstate the December 31st deadline. 
• The Supreme Court’s decision will allow the Census headcount to remain paused while the case is heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and a decision is issued, at which point the case may again be appealed to the Supreme Court.
• Because the case comes from the Supreme Court’s administrative docket it’s unclear how all of the eight justices currently on the bench voted, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent was the only opinion attached to the order.

— Eric Revell

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