Press Releases
09/25/2020
Attorney General Tong Statement on Court Decision Barring Trump Administration Effort to Undermine Census Count
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong issued a statement following a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California barring the Trump Administration from arbitrarily ending the census count a month before its scheduled completion date.“The Trump Administration has zero interest in fulfilling its constitutional duty to count all persons in this census. The court saw this rush plan for exactly what it was—an unlawful scheme to hamstring the census and undermine a fair and accurate count. This fight is not over, and we will continue to defend the legitimacy of this count against sustained attacks from the Trump Administration,” said Attorney General Tong.
“Attempts to arbitrarily rush the Census — especially for political gain — will leave our most overlooked communities shortchanged for the next decade. This is part of a deliberate attempt to disinvest in and diminish the political power of our most vulnerable communities and cities. This is about social justice, equity and equality. If we have an egregious undercount of our state’s population, we risk not having enough resources to meet the needs of our community. The Census stands to lose approximately $2,900 for every person undercounted. That’s why it’s so critical that we use this extended deadline to achieve a complete count,” said Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz.
The U.S. Census Bureau last month announced that it was reducing the time in which self-response questionnaires will be accepted and door-to-door follow-ups will take place. Connecticut joined a coalition filing an amicus brief in National Urban League v. Ross, supporting the plaintiffs’ request for a nationwide stay or preliminary injunction to halt this “rush plan.” The coalition argued that the very integrity of the 2020 Census is at stake, as this expedited schedule will hamstring the bureau’s ongoing efforts to conduct the census and impair the accuracy of its total population counts of each state.
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