A Supreme Court Fight Over Census Data Privacy And Redistricting Is Likely Coming

A three-judge court has rejected Alabama's request to force the U.S. Census Bureau to move up the release of 2020 census redistricting data. The federal judges have also allowed the bureau to continue plans for a new way of keeping people's census information confidential.

The ruling is expected to be appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting up the next major legal battle at the high court involving last year's national head count and adding another layer of uncertainty to when the redrawing of voting districts around the country using 2020 census data can begin.

The timing had already been beset by the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration's interference with last year's census schedule, which led the Census Bureau to delay releasing the detailed demographic data to check the accuracy of it.

The lower court's ruling — issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr., U.S. District Judge Emily Marks and Judge Kevin Newsom of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — allows the bureau, at least for now, to stick with its plan to release 2020 census redistricting data by Aug. 16.