A Federal Appeals Court, sided with Ohio, on Tuesday, in the State’s Effort to get Detailed 2020 Census Data Earlier than Sept. 30th, to Draw New Congressional and Legislative Districts.
In its Two-page Ruling, a Three-Judge Panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Ohio has Standing to Sue to get the Data after a Lower Court Dismissed the Lawsuit in March 2021.
The Ruling Reversed the Lower Court Decision and Forced the Lower Court to try to Remedy the matter.
The Census Bureau Released Initial Data late last month, from the 2020 Decennial Count, which Determines House Seats and the Disbursement of $1.5 Trillion in Federal Aid to Communities, among other things.
The State-Level Results showed that Ohio, a Crucial Presidential Battleground State, will Lose One Congressional Seat for the 2022 Elections.
While the Commerce Department, which Oversees the Census Bureau, is Required by Law to deliver Population Data to the States by April 1st, the Bureau then Pushed-Back the Release of the Redistricting Data to Sept.30th, because of Delays Attributed to the Coronavirus Pandemic that also Cut-Short the time to Collect the Data.
Ohio, however, sets Initial Deadlines for Drawing Legislative (Sept. 1st) and Congressional (Sept. 30th) Maps, with several Hearings preceding those Dates.
The State's Republican Attorney General, Dave Yost, Sued to get Redistricting Data from the Census Bureau by Mid-August instead of waiting until Sept. 30th, when the Census Bureau had Estimated it would Provide the Detailed Breakdowns for States.
“Although Ohio would prefer to get its data sooner, Ohio agrees that an August 16 delivery would allow it to complete its redistricting process,” the Judges' ruling stated. “But Ohio currently has no assurance that the federal government will live up to its most recent representation.”
The Judges added that “monitoring by the district court could move the proceedings along and provide Ohio with some redress” if the Bureau does Not deliver the Data in time.
Yost said in a statement following the Ruling, "Bringing this suit forced the U.S. Census Bureau to admit it can provide us the data sooner than originally stated — which has been our goal all along. Now we are asking the court to hold them to their word."
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
1 comment:
Ohio has still not won this lawsuit, and no judge has yet said that Ohio can get the data. The only new development is that the US District Court must now decide if it is possible for the census bureau to get the data sooner than it had said it could.
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