Fair Lines America Foundation v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce

Summary

Fair Lines Amer­ica Found­a­tion filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Commerce Depart­ment and the U.S. Census Bureau under the Free­dom of Inform­a­tion Act (FOIA) to compel the Census Bureau to release records concern­ing insti­tu­tional living facil­it­ies and other hous­ing facil­it­ies coun­ted in the group quar­ters oper­a­tion for the 2020 Census. On August 8, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that the Census Bureau was exempted from releasing documents responsive to plaintiff’s FOIA request under its statutory duty to keep census responses confidential.

Case Back­ground

Fair Lines Amer­ica Found­a­tion sued the U.S. Commerce Depart­ment and the U.S. Census Bureau under the FOIA to compel produc­tion of internal records concern­ing the count­ing of group quar­ters for the 2020 Census. The plaintiff sought records related to how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the count­ing of insti­tu­tional living facil­it­ies or other hous­ing facil­it­ies in the 2020 Census and the poten­tial impact the group quar­ters count may have had on the over­all state popu­la­tion tabu­lations.

Fair Lines asked the court for injunct­ive and declar­at­ory relief to compel the Census Bureau to disclose the group quar­ters popu­la­tion data and other reques­ted records. The Census Bureau responded that producing this data would result in further delays in the release of redistricting data from the 2020 Census. Fair Lines withdrew its motion for a preliminary injunction on July 28, 2021.

On August 8, 2022, the court granted the government’s motion for summary judgment. The court’s opinion held that the the Census Bureau is not required to release state-level group quarter imputation data from the 2020 Census.

Documents

• Complaint (May 18, 2021)
• Answer to Complaint (June 21, 2021)
• Plaintiff’s Memorandum in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (July 19, 2021)
• Status Report (July 20, 2021)
• Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (July 26, 2021)
• Notice of Withdrawal of Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (July 28, 2021)
• Minute Order (August 6, 2021)
• Motion for Summary Judgement (September 10, 2021)
• Combined Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgement and Cross Motion for Summary Judgement (October 1, 2021)
• Defendant’s Reply in Support of Motion for Summary Judgement and Opposition to Plaintiff’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgement (November 2, 2021)
• Plaintiff’s Reply in Support of Cross-Motion Summary Judgement (November 23, 2021) 
• Opinion (August 2, 2022)