About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 Thomas Wolf, et al., Getting the Count Right: Key Context for the 2020 Census 1 (March 31, 2020)

handle is hein.brennan/bcjgtct0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Getting the Count Right Key Context for the 2020 Census By Thomas Wolf, Kelly Percival, and Brianna Cea ensus Day is rapidly approaching, and efforts to get out the count are proceeding despite severe headwinds. The stakes are significant: the once- per-decade enumeration of everyone in America will determine how congressional seats and hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding get distributed among the states. This primer answers some basic questions: Will the Census Bureau keep your data safe? How well - or poorly- have past censuses done at counting everyone? How will the results of the Census affect the distribution of political power? How might litigation and the courts influence the count or how the numbers are ultimately used? And how might the coronavirus affect the Census process and the final numbers? Along the way, we high- light resources that offer a deeper dive on these and other census issues. Confidentiality Participating in the census is safe. Yet in today's envi- ronment, trust in the federal government is at an extreme low. Many people - and especially communi- ties of color - fear that the Census Bureau will share their answers with other government agencies or that the Trump administration will use their answers against them.' These concerns are real and threaten to depress the count if not adequately addressed.2 But in fact, federal law offers strong and detailed protections against anyone - including in the federal government - abusing the personal information that the Census Bureau collects. A national network of attorneys has mobilized to uphold these laws. L s p t 1he cf e r rs g Robust legal protections prohibit the Census Bureau or any other part of the federal government from using census data against the people who supply it.3 These laws bar census responses from leaving the four walls of the bureau except as aggregate, anonymous statistics.4 The laws that safeguard the confidentiality of census data make clear that, among other things, the Census Bureau cannot disclose census responses in anyway that would personally identify anyone.' The laws also bar other federal agencies from using census data for any nonsta- tistical purpose, such as enforcing immigration or other laws.6 Federal employees attempting to misuse census data would expose themselves to serious legal consequences.7 Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most