{"id":1315,"date":"2020-09-25T12:49:36","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T17:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=1315"},"modified":"2020-09-25T12:49:36","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T17:49:36","slug":"navajo-nation-welcomes-ruling-extending-census-2020-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/09\/25\/navajo-nation-welcomes-ruling-extending-census-2020-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Navajo Nation welcomes ruling extending Census 2020 operations"},"content":{"rendered":"
U.S. District Court rules in favor of Navajo Nation and co-plaintiffs to allow Census count to continue through October, appeal expected<\/div>\r\n
Friday, September 25, 2020<\/div>\r\n
Navajo Nation \r\nOffice of the President and Vice President<\/div>\r\n
opvp.navajo-nsn.gov<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWINDOW ROCK, Arizona \u2013 On Thursday, Judge Lucy H. Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted Navajo Nation and co-plaintiffs\u2019 motion for stay and preliminary injunction, requiring the 2020 Census count to continue until the end of October. However, an appeal is expected to be filed by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Commerce, and their lead officials.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Navajo Nation officially joined the lawsuit on Sept. 1, 2020, against the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Commerce based on the adoption of an illegally expedited plan, known as the \u201cReplan,\u201d which shortened the time to complete data collection for the 2020 Census by imposing a new deadline of Sept. 30, 2020 and further shortened the time to complete data processing by imposing a new deadline of December 31, 2020. The Navajo Nation and other plaintiffs contended that federal defendants illegally curtailed time to complete the 2020 census, threatening to cause a significant undercount of minority populations, including members of the Navajo Nation.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cAs the first people of this country, we have every right to be counted in the 2020 Census. We have a strong and diverse coalition of plaintiffs who are demanding that the U.S. Census Bureau uphold their original plan to allow the census count to continue through the month of October. The coronavirus pandemic has set all of us back and created many challenges to get people counted, especially for rural areas such as the Navajo Nation. Although we do anticipate an appeal to be filed by the federal officials, we ask them to respect Judge Koh\u2019s ruling to allow the census count to continue until the end of October without disruption,\u201d said President Nez.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Navajo Nation issued a proclamation recognizing the month of September 2020 as \u201cNavajo Nation Census Month,\u201d to encourage the Navajo people to participate in the 2020 Census to ensure a complete count of all citizens on the Navajo Nation. As of Thursday, the Navajo Nation\u2019s response rate for the 2020 Census was only 20.5 percent. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn addition, the Nez-Lizer Administration has also provided many opportunities for Navajo Nation residents to be counted for the census during food and care package distribution events where Census representatives are on-site to help people get counted. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe lawsuit was first filed on Aug. 18, 2020, shortly after the Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau, suddenly and without explanation, announced the Replan on Aug. 3, 2020. The Replan threatens to undercount \u201chard-to-count\u201d populations, which are primarily minority communities, including members of tribal nations.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn the years leading up to the 2020 Census, the federal government carefully planned and prepared to ensure a more accurate count for 2020, by ensuring ample time was provided to complete the in-person data-collection and subsequent data-processing phases of the census. The plaintiffs contend that the federal government had no sound basis for expediting deadlines for these phases with the Replan. The Replan shortened the time for the non-response follow up phase of data collection, which involves census enumerators going door-to-door at residences that have not responded in previous phases. This phase is especially critical on the Navajo Nation, where response to earlier phases of data collection are low, and much lower in relation to other regions of the United States.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cCompleting the census is already very challenging for many households due to the lack of telecommunications infrastructure in many Navajo communities, but we are providing assistance by partnering with census officials during our distribution events. The COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges, especially for our elders and remote residents. We need adequate time to complete the 2020 Census with an accurate count,\u201d stated Vice President Lizer.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe Navajo Nation acknowledges Judge Koh\u2019s tireless efforts on a highly expedited schedule to ensure this case, and the census, are fairly conducted.\u201d said Navajo Nation Attorney General Doreen N. McPaul. \u201cThe Judge\u2019s ruling in favor of Plaintiffs\u2019 motion is a significant step forward in the fight for an accurate census to ensure hard-to-count populations, including our Navajo people, are fairly accounted for and provided the resources and representation to which they are entitled under the U.S. Constitution.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAttorneys with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice representing the Nation in the case stated that the case could go to a full trial on the merits at the District Court, but that is unlikely. Defendants will likely seek appellate review of Judge Koh\u2019s ruling before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, or possibly will seek to skip the court of appeals and seek direct review by the U.S. Supreme Court. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe court ruling is available at: brennancenter.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-09\/Opinion%20on%20PI.pdf<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Nez-Lizer Administration encourages everyone to self-respond for the 2020 Census online at 2020census.gov<\/a> or by calling (844) 330-2020. ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAs the first people of this country, we have every right to be counted in the 2020 Census,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19,20,13,14,31],"tags":[3,5,341,28,24],"class_list":["post-1315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-indian-trust","category-law","category-politics","category-press-release","tag-census","tag-coronavirus","tag-dorreen-mcpaul","tag-jonathan-nez","tag-navajo","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-ld","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/navajonation-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}