A federal judge on Thursday agreed to impose financial sanctions against the Trump administration for failing to produce hundreds of documents during litigation over whether a citizenship question could be added to the 2020 census.
The 2020 census is the first in which most people are being encouraged to answer the questions online, though people can still answer the questionnaire by telephone or by mailing back a paper form if they prefer.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington found Ken Cuccinelli's appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a 1998 law governing who is eligible to lead federal agencies in an acting capacity.
Lawmakers held a hearing to get an update from Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham and other agency officials on its readiness for the largest and most complex head count in U.S, history.
The ruling allows the judge to retain jurisdiction of the case in the event of the Trump administration trying to add the citizenship question to the census again.
His reversal comes after the Supreme Court blocked his efforts to include the citizenship question and as the government had already begun the lengthy and expensive process of printing the census questionnaire without it.
The change announced Sunday comes days after the department vowed to continue to try to find a legal path forward to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.
The decision comes after a Supreme Court ruling determined that the Trump administration had provided insufficient rationale for the addition of a citizenship question.