Court Denies Injunction in EPIC Census Privacy Suit

A federal court has denied EPIC’s motion for a preliminary injunction and refused to block the Census Bureau from collecting citizenship information via the 2020 Census. As EPIC told the court, the Bureau unlawfully failed to complete multiple privacy impact assessments before it abruptly introduced the citizenship question last year. The court acknowledged that the Bureau must “prepare PIAs that adequately address the collection of citizenship data in the 2020 Census” and noted that “negative policy consequences” could result “if an agency drags its feet in performing its PIA obligations.” Nevertheless, the court held that the Bureau may drag its feet in conducting the required assessments “until the Bureau mails its first batch of Census questionnaires to the public” in 2020. EPIC has filed numerous successful lawsuits to require privacy impact assessments, including EPIC's case that led a now-defunct Presidential Commission to delete state voter data it unlawfully obtained. EPIC intends to press forward with the census case, which is captioned EPIC v. Commerce, No. 18-2711 (D.D.C.).