Civil rights groups drop lawsuit over 2020 Census

Civil rights organizations on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit against the government over its 2020 Census plans, saying the Biden administration’s actions have resolved the problems the suit sought to address.

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The suit, filed in 2019 by Asian Americans Advancing Justice/AAJC and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund on behalf of Latino groups and individuals, challenged a Trump administration directive to federal agencies to produce citizenship data to the Census Bureau for redistricting purposes, saying it violated the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act. Last year it amended the complaint to also oppose President Donald Trump’s memorandum barring undocumented immigrants from being counted in the census tally for congressional apportionment.

But a Jan. 20 executive order by President Biden revoking the previous administration’s actions, along with the bureau’s termination of its effort to comply with them, resolved the claims, according to the organizations’ filing.