Led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, more than 200 organizations sent a letter to the Deputy General Counsel for Economic, Statistical, and Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce, urging the department to oppose a new rule that intentionally excludes people from the census.

Read the cover letter below and click here to see full comment letter here. 

November 2, 2026

Daniel Sweeney
Deputy General Counsel for Economic, Statistical, and Regulatory Affairs
Office of the General Counsel
U.S. Department of Commerce
Washington, DC 20230

Re: Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions (FR Doc. 2026-18481)

Dear Mr. Sweeney:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, our Census Task Force co-chairs, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC and NALEO Educational Fund, and the undersigned organizations, we appreciate this opportunity to provide comments in opposition to the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published by the Census Bureau, Department of Commerce: Federal Register Notice Docket Number USBC-2026-0628, “Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions.”

The Leadership Conference is the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition and provides a powerful unified voice for the many constituencies we represent. Our coalition views an accurate and fair census — and the collection of useful, objective data about our nation’s people, housing, economy, and communities generally — to be among the most important civil rights issues of our day. The Leadership Conference’s longstanding role as a Census Information Center has allowed us to lift up within our broad civil rights coalition the fundamental importance of comprehensive, high-quality data about our population, communities, and economy. We also have a long history of first-hand experience working in support of the decennial census.

The decennial census, required by the U.S. Constitution, is a cornerstone of our democracy. Accurate census data are critical for representation, carrying out the laws of our nation, and ensuring a functioning democracy. For these reasons, we strongly oppose the proposals contained in the NPRM and urge the Census Bureau (Department of Commerce) to withdraw this proposed rule. The census belongs to the people. This proposed rule seeks to erase people from the census, silence their voices, and dictate that they do not count in our democracy.

The proposed rule would: 1) exclude noncitizens other than “lawful permanent residents” from congressional apportionment through an administrative action; 2) eliminate questions about race and ethnicity from the decennial census; 3) redefine “usual residence” in multiple ways, including an unprecedented enumeration period and tying enumeration to certain administrative records; and 4) prohibit sexual orientation questions on future censuses. The proposed rule would create two new parts within Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations, applying these changes to all future censuses.

These proposals, together and separately, would result in inaccurate and unusable census data. The proposed rule is unconstitutional, unprecedented, and violates multiple laws by seeking to erase certain communities entirely from representation and from federal data. These proposals would distort population counts, suppress census participation, and silence entire communities. Any resulting census would be grossly inaccurate and cut to the core of our democracy – shifting representation and critical resources away from certain communities, making it impossible to enforce foundational civil rights laws, and removing reliable data that governments and private actors across the United States rely upon for informed decision-making. These consequences would harm everyone, regardless of their citizenship, race, ethnicity, or where they live.

The initial 33-day comment period provided for this proposed rule, ending on October 13, 2026, was grossly inadequate. While we support the recent extension of the public comment period until November 2, 2026, a 53-day comment period is still not sufficient for the public to review and provide input on this rule given the scope of the proposed changes and the devastating effects they would have on census data. Moreover, given the Secretary of Commerce’s termination of the Census Bureau’s advisory committees, ensuring ample opportunity for the public to respond to the proposed changes is essential for promoting public trust in the census. The Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau should further extend the comment period until at least December 10, 2026, to provide a meaningful opportunity for public input, as appropriate for a significant rulemaking, and provide additional time for meaningful Tribal consultation, as required to uphold the federal government’s government-to-government relationship with Tribal Nations.