New Yorkers have been given another month to fill out their census forms—and ensure enough resources for New York City—after a federal judge ruled issued a preliminary injunction to the September 30th deadline.
In a decision that applies to all 50 states, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in California wrote in a 78-page opinion that the shortened 2020 Census deadline—originally October 31st—would have led to "inaccuracies in the tabulation" which would "harm constitutional and statutory interests. The Census process, overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce, serves as a primer for the federal government in deciding where $1.5 trillion of federal aid goes based on population estimates.
The ruling now clears the NYC Census team extra time to raise the response rates for New York City, where COVID-19 has largely been blamed for a relatively low response rate. Currently, just 60.6% of residents with a New York City home address have filled out a census form on paper or online. The self-response figure falls below the national average of 66.3%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's tracking page.
While attorneys with the Census Bureau argued that the pushing the deadline from September 30th back to October 31st makes the agency vulnerable to missing a December 31st deadline (which Koh also put a preliminary injunction on), civil rights attorneys who sued the federal government said the shortened schedule would have risked the allocation of funds to areas with communities that are difficult to count, particularly minority communities.
Julie Menin, director for the NYC Census 2020, called it another attempt from the Trump Administration to stymie efforts for a proper count, particularly in urban cities.
“Once again, the Trump Administration tried to throw up a politically insidious and illegal roadblock to stop people from filling out the census and once again, they’ve failed spectacularly," said Julie Menin, director of NYC Census 2020. "This ruling, which will extend the census into October, and sends a clear message that the current December 31st deadline for data reporting cannot work, is a major victory in our fight to ensure New Yorkers get every ounce of the money, power, and respect to which we’re entitled.”
New York City had committed $40 million for an aggressive campaign to familiarize residents with the census, a necessary investment given the $53 billion New York State is estimated to receive if all New Yorkers were to fill out their forms.
In a joint statement by the 2020 Census Task Force, legislators at the New York City Council hailed the victory and another chance at moving toward a complete count.
"We have seen the Trump Administration try and fail, again and again, to exclude immigrants from the census count and diminish the power of big cities like New York. Shortening the census counting period was just their latest attempt to undercount cities like New York, and they failed again. The stakes couldn’t be higher," read the statement. "The census is about money, power, and respect. New Yorkers are determined to secure every federal dollar we deserve for health care, housing, public education, roads, and more; ensure we keep our congressional representation intact, and show this Administration that no one messes with New York City."
The task force and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson warned, however, that Trump will likely "undermine this judicial order."
"We will continue working tirelessly until the last second of any deadline. We have to make sure every single New Yorker gets counted and gets the resources and representation they deserve for the next ten years. No one messes with New York," the statement read.
