The Supreme Court on Tuesday approved the Trump administration's emergency application to stop Census field operations early while litigation over the once-a-decade count continues in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Why it matters: Civil rights groups fear that cutting off field operations now could lead to an undercount, which would affect how congressional seats are reapportioned. Lower courts had previously ordered the Commerce Department to continue counting through Oct. 31, but the Trump administration argued that field operations need to stop now in order to move to the data processing phase before an end-of-year deadline.
Go deeper: The race to finish the Census count
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