{"id":1610,"date":"2020-09-29T10:41:57","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T15:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=1610"},"modified":"2020-10-14T09:50:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T14:50:05","slug":"clock-ticking-census-2020-indian-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/09\/29\/clock-ticking-census-2020-indian-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Tribes continue fight for accurate Census count"},"content":{"rendered":"\"census2020\"\r\n
A U.S. Census Bureau worker on the Navajo Nation, whose leaders are part of a court case seeking to ensure the count runs through October 31, 2020, as planned, before the Trump administration reversed course. Photo: Navajo Nation Office of President and Vice President<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
With clock ticking \u2013 and state lagging \u2013 Census court fight continues<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, September 29, 2020<\/div>\r\n
By MacKenzie Belley<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWASHINGTON – A see-saw legal battle over the 2020 Census continued Friday, with the government pushing to end the count in just five days while local governments, including two Arizona tribes, hoped to extend it to October 31.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nIt comes as state officials are scrambling to improve Arizona’s census \r\nresponse rate,<\/a>\r\nwhich was ninth-lowest in the country Friday at 94.7%. Response rates for the Navajo Nation and Gila River Indian Community, which are part of the suit to extend the census, are just a fraction of the state rate.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAt stake are millions in federal aid for local governments and representation in Congress, all of which are based on an accurate decennial census.

<\/p>\r\n“These Census numbers will decide formulas for funding and political representation for the next 10 years,” Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said Friday.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Need help completing your census questionnaire? Census staff will be onsite TODAY(9\/29) from 8:30am-1:00pm at the…<\/p>Posted by Gila River Indian Community<\/a> on Tuesday, September 29, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nLewis and other critics won a brief victory late Thursday when U.S. District Judge Lucy H. \r\nKoh ordered<\/a>\r\nthe Census Bureau to stick to its previous October 31 ending date, ruling that plaintiffs would “suffer irreparable harm” if the Census count were to cease enumeration on September 30.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nHer ruling was challenged almost immediately by the Commerce Department, the parent agency of the Census, which filed an appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked Koh to stay her order while the appeal was pending.

<\/p>\r\nKoh denied that request which means – for now, at least – the Census cannot wind down operations.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nIn a statement Friday night, the \r\nbureau confirmed<\/a>\r\nthat it “will comply with the Court’s order and continue our Nonresponse Follow Up Operation” and that field staff have been instructed to continue current operations until further notice.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“The Navajo Nation acknowledges Judge Koh’s tireless efforts on a highly expedited schedule to ensure this case, and the Census, are fairly conducted,” Navajo Nation Attorney General Doreen N. McPaul said in a statement Friday.

<\/p>\r\nMcPaul called Koh’s ruling “a significant step forward in the fight for an accurate Census to ensure hard-to-count populations.”

<\/p>\r\n

U.S. District Court rules in favor of Navajo Nation and co-plaintiffs to allow Census count to continue through October, appeal expected pic.twitter.com\/BwU3ai8A7m<\/a><\/p>— Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez (@NNPrezNez) September 25, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>