Court blocks right-wing effort to rig Census count

Judges issued a blow to America First Legal (AFL), the law firm co-founded by now-Trump advisor Stephen Miller, in a decision to permanently dismiss the case that claimed the way the United States Census Bureau used statistics to count people in 2020 left Florida Republicans underrepresented.

The ruling marks a win for historically underrepresented voters, including naturalized citizens, lower-income and young people.

Pro-voting intervenor Cameron Driggers, a master’s student at the University of Central Florida, wrote in his motion that for him, the Census’ statistical methods ensure his vote as a student living in a dormitory is accurately counted.

Although AFL has made a last-ditch effort by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, yesterday’s ruling made by both Obama and Trump-appointed judges suggests the decision will likely stand.

“This conclusion is neither novel nor groundbreaking, as Congress understood this problem well,” the judges wrote in the ruling as they addressed the invalidity of relief after the census is already counted.

The three-judge panel majority held Republican plaintiffs also merely filed their lawsuit too late and that they lacked standing — the standard for evidence of harm — needed to challenge the 2020 Census methods. The first amended complaint was filed in September 2025, a year after the four-year statutory limit following the 2020 Census. 

Judge Steven Merryday, appointed by George. W. Bush, dissented. He argued the members of Congress had standing to sue and the dismissal was premature. Merryday insisted a more detailed factual finding was needed to assess the merits of Republicans’ claims.

In a head-spinning third complaint that discussed “allocation,” “imputation” and “enumeration,” the University of South Florida College Republicans and other plaintiffs claimed the standard methods used for the national headcount in the 2020 Census were unfair and resulted in underrepresentation for Florida Republicans.

The plaintiffs used this argument as one of many pretenses for Florida’s mid-decade gerrymandering, which could give Republicans up to four more seats in Congress. 

But the Census Bureau claimed its counting had “very little impact on the net coverage of error estimates.”

This decision comes on the heels of another AFL loss in Arizona in a case that targeted accessible voting.

Because the ruling was issued by a three-judge panel, the U.S. Supreme Court must weigh in on AFL’s appeal and can either affirm, reverse or order briefings and a possible hearing before it makes its decision. 

Adeline Tolle contributed to this report.