2020 Census

The U.S. Constitution requires an accurate count of all U.S. residents every ten years. This requirement is met by the U.S. Census Bureau’s decennial census, which will next be conducted in April 2020. The data collected in the decennial census is used to determine representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures and to distribute billions of dollars in federal funds. It is also used by the County to identify County residents that may need assistance in the event of a disaster like an earthquake, wildfire, or pandemic. As a result, the accuracy of the census is not just a fundamental constitutional requirement, it is also critical to the health, safety, and political rights of all County residents.

The Office of the County Counsel is involved in several efforts to protect the accuracy and integrity of the 2020 census, from participating in efforts to ensure that County residents have correct and timely information about census participation to intervening in a lawsuit to ensure that all County residents are counted. The Office has also submitted briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of numerous local jurisdictions, urging the Court to reject the federal administration’s unlawful effort to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census and exclude undocumented individuals from the census count used to allocate seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

• County of Santa Clara's Office of the Census

• U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Brief of the County of Santa Clara, City of Los Angeles, Nine Additional Local Jurisdictions, and the National League of Cities Opposing a Census Citizenship Question (April 1, 2019)

• Amicus Brief of the County of Santa Clara, on Behalf of 20 Local Governments, Opposing Trump Administration’s Efforts to Curtail 2020 Census Field Operations (August 31, 2020)

• Amicus Brief of Local Governments, Opposing Trump Administration’s Efforts to Exclude Undocumented Individuals from Population Count for Congressional Apportionment (November 19, 2020)

• Press Release – County of Santa Clara Leads Local Government Coalition Supporting Legal Challenge to Block Trump Administration’s Targeting of Immigrants in the 2020 Census

• Letter to Department of Commerce Opposing a Census Citizenship Question (August 7, 2018)

• County of Santa Clara’s Motion to Intervene in Alabama v. Department of Commerce (July 17, 2018)

• Order Granting County of Santa Clara’s Motion to Intervene in Alabama v. Department of Commerce (December 13, 2018)