Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20a62_n7ip.pdf
Page Number: 6

6 

ROSS v. NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

WL  5940346,  *6.    The  Government  attempts  to  downplay 
that risk by asserting that over 99 percent of households in 
49  States  are  already  accounted for.2    Reply  Brief  6.   But 
even  a  fraction  of  a  percent  of  the  Nation’s  140  million 
households amounts to hundreds of thousands of people left 
uncounted.    See  ECF  Doc.  81–1,  ¶  36  (ND  Cal.,  Sept.  4, 
2020).  And significantly, the percentage of nonresponses is 
likely much higher among marginalized populations and in 
hard-to-count areas, such as rural and tribal lands.  Id., ¶ 
12 (discussing the Bureau’s plan to develop “culturally rel-
evant  advertisements  targeting  hard-to-count  communi-
ties”); Response to Application 30.  When governments al-
locate resources using census data, those populations will 
disproportionately bear the burden of any inaccuracies.  See 
Department  of  Commerce  v.  New  York,  588  U. S.  ___,  ___ 
(2019) (slip op., at 10) (States “show[ed] that if noncitizen 
households are undercounted by as little as 2% . . . they will 
lose out on federal funds that are distributed on the basis 
of state population”).  It is thus unsurprising that, for the 
2010 census, the Bureau continued its field operations for a 
full month after reaching the 99 percent threshold that the 
Government now deems good enough.  See Response to Ap-
plication 29–30 (citing Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Cen-
sus, A. Jackson, 2010 Census Nonresponse Followup Oper-
ations Assessment Report 47 (2012)).  The harms caused by 

—————— 

2 Although this claim bears significant weight for the Government’s ar-
gument,  the  emergency  posture  of  this  case  prevents  this  Court  from 
properly evaluating the claim’s accuracy.  For example, as the District 
Court found, Government oversight bodies have repeatedly warned that 
accelerating the census schedule “increases the risks to obtaining a com-
plete and accurate 2020 Census.”  ___ F. Supp. 3d, at ___–___, 2020 WL 
5739144, *8–*9.  Yet the Government addresses data quality concerns 
primarily in a footnote.  Application for Stay 7–8, n. 3; Reply Brief 6–7.  
Without more, the Government’s bald assertion that its collection efforts 
are  99  percent  complete  cannot  support  its  request  for  extraordinary 
relief.