Ohio is not the only state suing the U.S. Census Bureau of its plan to release population data as late as September 30. Alabama is also suing. Alabama v U.S. Department of Commerce, m.d., 3:21cv-211. A hearing was held on May 5. This case is before a 3-judge panel of the U.S. District Court. The three judges are Kevin Newsom, R. Austin Huffaker, and Emily C. Marks. All three are Trump appointees. Here is the Complaint. The case also complains about the form of the data the Bureau will be releasing.
Alabama is mainly concerned about the use of differential privacy. Census forms are supposed to be confidential. But with enough aggregated data presented in different formats the individual data can be reconstructed. With commercial data bases, the individual data can be tied to names.
The Census Bureau aims to count every person, count them only once, and count them in the right location. But with differential privacy, they will obscure how many people were enumerated at a particular location.
Previously the Census Bureau has tabulated the number of persons living in each block. States use that data for redistricting and gerrymandering purposes.
By federal statute, the Census Bureau is required to deliver those block population counts to the States by April 1, 2021. They have missed that deadline, and now propose to not deliver that data at all. The application of differential privacy may be contributing to the delay.
Alabama had another lawsuit regarding counting of illegal aliens – persons who have no right to reside in the United States. Alabama argued since they have no residence in the United States they should not be counted. They feared that counting them in other states would lead to Alabama losing a congressional seat. Now that Alabama has not lost a seat, they have agreed to dismiss the suit. They may have lost standing since the alleged injury did not occur.
Voters vote- NOT Census pops (esp ALL illegal invaders).
SCOTUS conlaw train wreck in 1964 gerrymander cases.
1954-1896 = mere 58 years before olde racist regime wiped out
2021-1964 = mere 57 years of ANTI-Democracy gerrymander ROT.
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PR
APPV
TOTSOP