Lawsuits Impacting the Future of the U.S. Census

Sun Jan 11 2026 22:29:18 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

As the preparations for the 2030 Census begin, two significant lawsuits could reshape the counting methods and influence who gets counted in the U.S.

With the next U.S. Census set for 2030, legal battles are already underway that could change how the Census is conducted and who is included. Two lawsuits, one led by America First Legal and the other by Republican attorneys general, are challenging the Census Bureau's privacy protection methods and the inclusion of undocumented immigrants. As these legal disputes progress, concerns over representation and federal funding hang in the balance.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The next U.S. census is four years away, but two lawsuits playing out this year could affect how it will be done and who will be counted.

Allies of President Donald Trump are behind the federal lawsuits challenging various aspects of the once-a-decade count by the U.S. Census Bureau, which is used to determine congressional representation and how much federal aid flows to the states.

The challenges align with parts of Trump’s agenda even as the Republican administration must defend the agency in court. A Democratic law firm is representing efforts to intervene in both cases because of concerns over whether the U.S. Justice Department will defend the bureau vigorously. There have been no indications so far that government attorneys are doing otherwise.

The legal challenges

America First Legal, co-founded by Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is leading one of the lawsuits, filed in Florida. It contests methods the bureau has used to protect participants’ privacy and to ensure that people in group-living facilities such as dorms and nursing homes will be counted.

The lawsuit’s intent is to prevent those methods from being used in the 2030 census and to have 2020 figures revised. “This case is about stopping illegal methods that undermine equal representation and ensuring the next census complies with the Constitution,” Gene Hamilton, president of America First Legal, said in a statement.

The other lawsuit was filed in federal court in Louisiana by four Republican state attorneys general and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes illegal immigration and supports reduced legal immigration. The lawsuit seeks to exclude people who are in the United States illegally from being counted in the numbers for redrawing congressional districts.

In both cases, outside groups represented by the Democratic-aligned Elias Law Group have sought to intervene over concerns that the Justice Department would reach friendly settlements with the challengers. In the Florida case, a judge allowed a retirees’ association and two university students to join the defense as intervenors. Justice Department lawyers have asked that the case be dismissed.

Aligning with Trump’s agenda

The goals of the lawsuits, particularly the Louisiana case, align with core parts of Trump’s agenda, although the 2030 census will be conducted under a different president. During his first term, for the 2020 census, Trump tried to prevent those who are in the U.S. illegally from being used in the apportionment numbers.

A Republican redistricting expert had written that using only the citizen voting-age population for the purpose of redrawing congressional districts could be advantageous to Republicans. Both Trump orders were rescinded when Democratic President Joe Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021.

Defending the Census Bureau

The Louisiana lawsuit was filed at the end of the Biden administration and put on hold in March. Justice Department lawyers said they needed time to consider the position of the new leadership in the second Trump administration. The state attorneys general in December asked for that hold to be lifted.

So far, in the court record, there is nothing to suggest that those government attorneys have done anything to undermine the Census Bureau’s defense in both cases, despite the intervenors’ concerns.