NY Times: Administration Running out of Time to Print Census Forms

The administration is running out of time to print the census forms, The New York Times is reporting.

At issue is whether the form will be printed with a question on whether those filling it out are American citizens. On Thursday the Supreme Court ruled the administration gave a “contrived” explanation for its plan to include the question.

But the Times noted there is still a possibility the administration could return with adequate justification. However, it could be months before the issue is resolved.

President Donald Trump said he will see if the census, which the Constitution requires be carried out every 10 years, can be delayed.

The Census Bureau maintained it needs to begin printing forms in July and has set a deadline of Monday. But one senior census official told the Times that officials could wait as late as Oct. 31. However, the newspaper said some experts dispute that.

A $115 million contract to print more than one billion forms was awarded to R.R. Donnelley. But the company is unable to start until it knows the fate of the citizenship question. There are reportedly two versions of the census forms ready to go -- one with the citizenship question and the other one without.

“The census schedule is unforgiving and immutable and it revolves around a day that is set in law for counting the population as of April 1,’’ Terri Ann Lowenthan, a census consultant is quoted in USA Today.

• Rove: Time Tight to Consider Court's Census Question Ruling
• Judge: Census Citizenship Question May Have 'Discriminatory Purpose'