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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RECORD

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Federal judge extends temporary restraining order on ending Census after agencies fail to produce documents

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After defendants failed to produce documents, Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for Northern California extended a temporary restraining order preventing the end of the Census | Stock Photo

Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for Northern California has extended a temporary restraining order sought by multiple plaintiffs – including the National Urban League, League of Women Voters and the City of Los Angeles – against the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Commerce to prevent implementation of a “Replan” that plaintiffs allege would shorten the census and “unlawfully harm the accuracy of crucial census data.”

In the order extending the temporary restraining order, it is noted that the defendants – which include the agencies, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Census director Dteven Dillingham – failed to follow repeated orders from the court to produce an administrative record outlining their plan for terminating the census prior to a previously decided-upon Oct. 31 completion date agreed upon in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court requested the administrative record in order to make a determination whether to grant a preliminary injunction against halting the census on Sept. 30, as the plaintiffs allege the Replan dictates, according to the order. The documents in question had previously been produced for the Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector general.

Citing that the defendants have already informed the court that the administrative record includes 1,800 documents and 15,000 pages, Koh extended the temporary until either the court has finished reviewing the documents or through Sept. 24, whichever is sooner.

Since the Sept. 22 hearing, the case docket has been updated with a motion to intervene from the State of Louisiana, but no additional movement occurred on the case on Sept. 24, according to Law360.

“In light of the government’s violation of the Court’s previous order regarding production of the administrative record, the brief extension of the [temporary restraining order] in this case was necessary and critical to preserve the status quo while ensuring that the Court will have the appropriate materials and arguments before it in deciding Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction,” Sadik Huseny, an attorney with Latham & Watkins LL and one of the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs, told the Northern California Record. “We look forward to addressing these issues in full at the upcoming hearing, and showing that an unrushed, full and fair count is paramount in ensuring the accuracy of the 2020 Census.”

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