Census on Track for August Data Release after Court Ruling

FILE – This March 19, 2020, file photo, shows a 2020 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident. Alabama on Wednesday became the second state to challenge the U.S. Census Bureau’s decision to delay by six months the release of data used for redrawing congressional and legislative districts, as it took aim at the accuracy of a privacy protection system that it alleged is holding up the process.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

The U.S. Census Bureau says that it’s on schedule to deliver the numbers used for redrawing congressional and legislative districts by mid-August. The news comes after federal judges rejected a challenge that could have delayed the data release. The panel of three federal judges on Tuesday denied the state of Alabama’s request for a preliminary injunction to halt the Census Bureau from using a statistical method aimed at keeping people’s data private in the redistricting numbers. The decision in federal court in Opelika, Alabama, allows the Census Bureau, for now, to proceed toward its goal of releasing the redistricting data by Aug. 16.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)