NEW: Sens. @padilla.senate.gov and @merkley.senate.gov lead 14 Senate Democrats in calling for the U.S. Postal Service to reverse changes to mail processing that have led to some mail not getting postmarked the same day it's sent

NEW: The Census Bureau says its next set of annual population estimates, which guide federal funding, will reflect recent increases in people moving out of the U.S. Set to be out starting this month, they will also factor in 2020 census data on race for the first time www.census.gov/newsroom/blo...

BREAKING: A panel of federal judges has refused to block California’s new congressional map, which could help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm election. The state’s Republican Party is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court www.courtlistener.com/docket/71875...

My latest @npr.org story: The United States could be headed toward the largest-ever decline in representation by Black members of Congress if the Supreme Court weakens Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination in redistricting n.pr/49tevoK

NEW: The Senate is no longer officially considering President Trump's nomination of Anthony Lomangino to join the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, which currently has four Biden-nominated governors and no Trump nominees www.congress.gov/nomination/1...

NEW: House Appropriations Committee's latest version of its Census Bureau funding bill no longer calls for altering #2030Census results used for divvying up congressional seats. The bill also no longer calls for taking away the bureau’s ability to “inquire” more than twice to get a survey response

On Dec. 5, Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh of Arizona introduced a bill calling for the #2030Census to ask whether a participant is a dual citizen of the U.S. and another country and, if so, which country www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

NEW: Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota is the 19th voting House Republican to cosponsor a resolution saying Congress should ensure the U.S. Postal Service stays an independent federal agency and not privatized. The resolution remains stuck in the House Oversight Committee

On Thursday, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 53-43 along party lines to confirm Joyce Meyer’s nomination to be the next undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs to oversee the Census Bureau www.senate.gov/legislative/...

NEW: The Census Bureau still plans for its American Community Survey to start using newly required checkboxes for “Middle Eastern or North African” & “Hispanic or Latino” under a question about race and/or ethnicity in 2027, according to the Federal Register www.federalregister.gov/public-inspe...

NEW: Louisiana tells a federal judge it wants to resume its lawsuit seeking to ban the Census Bureau from including people living in the states with no legal status and those with visas in #2030Census results that the 14th Amendment says must include the “whole number of persons in each state”

NEW: US Postal Service plans to start taking bids from large & small shippers in late January or early February 2026 for access to its "last-mile" delivery network as part of Postmaster General David Steiner's plan for boosting revenue at USPS, which generally receives no tax dollars to keep running

NEW: The Census Bureau is planning for the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey to start using the agency's new data collection systems in 2027, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office www.gao.gov/products/gao...

NEW: An @amstatnews.bsky.social report finds signs that public trust in the accuracy of federal statistics and statistical agencies’ ability to protect privacy and confidentiality declined between June and September www.amstat.org/policy-and-a...

On Monday, a federal judge threw out Missouri Republicans’ lawsuit against a referendum effort on the state’s new congressional map, which could help Republicans win an additional U.S. House seat in the 2026 midterm election www.courtlistener.com/docket/71658...

UPDATE: We're still waiting for SCOTUS to say how it will handle cases out of Alabama, Mississippi & North Dakota about whether private individuals & groups — whose lawsuits have been the main way of enforcing Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 — can keep suing. Next scheduled SCOTUS order day is Dec. 15

My latest @npr.org story: A Trump administration official has signaled a potential rollback of the racial and ethnic categories approved for the #2030Census and other future federal government forms

ICYMI: The Supreme Court hasn't finished weighing in on redistricting. Stay tuned for a ruling in a case about Louisiana's congressional map. Depending on the timing, a ruling that weakens Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination may lead to more gerrymandering before the midterms

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterms. A lower court found the map is likely unconstitutional for discriminating based on race www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

NEW: Rep. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona is the 18th voting House Republican to cosponsor a resolution saying Congress should ensure the U.S. Postal Service stays an independent federal agency and not privatized. The resolution remains stuck in the House Oversight Committee

NEW: The Census Bureau says it's trying to get the release schedule for economic indicators back on track after the government shutdown by shortening data collection periods and accelerating data processing "while still adhering to established quality standards" www.census.gov/econ/indicat...

NEW: Ensuring the accuracy of the #2030Census and Census Bureau survey data is among the top challenges facing the Commerce Department this fiscal year, the department inspector general's office says www.oig.doc.gov/wp-content/O...

NEW: The Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee voted 20-19 along party lines to advance a bill calling for excluding people living in the states without U.S. citizenship from #2030Census results that the 14th Amendment says must include the “whole number of persons in each state”

NEW: The U.S. Postal Service is not consistently tracking maintenance issues at its more than 31,000 facilities across the country, an audit by the USPS inspector general's office finds www.uspsoig.gov/reports/audi...

NEW: The House Oversight Committee is set to vote Dec. 2 on whether to advance a bill calling for excluding people living in the states without U.S. citizenship, such as green card holders, from #2030Census results that the 14th Amendment says must include the “whole number of persons in each state”

BREAKING: Federal judges are allowing North Carolina to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win an additional U.S. House seat in the 2026 midterm election www.courtlistener.com/docket/68059...

NEW: U.S. Postal Service is not reliably tracking excess and underutilized space at its facilities and, for six years, did not file legally required, annual reports to Congress on extra space that other federal agencies could use, USPS inspector general's office finds www.uspsoig.gov/reports/audi...

On Nov. 21, the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit claiming a longstanding Michigan state law allowing U.S. citizens who were born abroad (including those with U.S. military parents) and have never lived in the U.S. to vote in federal and state elections violates the state's constitution

UPDATE: The wait begins for the Supreme Court's final decision on whether Texas can use a new congressional map that could help the Republicans win five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm election. Briefs from all of the map's challengers are now in... www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?...

NEW: The Justice Department says it supports Texas' request for the Supreme Court to clear the way for a new Republican-friendly congressional map to be used for the 2026 midterm election www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

UPDATE: We're still waiting for SCOTUS to say how it will handle cases out of Alabama, Mississippi & North Dakota about whether private individuals & groups — whose lawsuits have been the main way of enforcing Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 — can keep suing. Next scheduled SCOTUS order day is Dec. 8

JUST IN: The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas' new, Republican-friendly congressional map to likely be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, as the court considers the state's request to allow the map to be used for the 2026 midterm election

JUST IN: Texas asks the Supreme Court to clear the way for a now-blocked, Republican-friendly congressional map to be used for the 2026 midterm election. A lower court blocked the map after finding it is likely an unconstitutional racial gerrymander www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

NEW: Arizona Attorney General @azagmayes.bsky.social, a Democrat, appeals the state's "fake electors" case to the Arizona Supreme Court after a lower court sent it back to a grand jury, stalling a criminal case against allies of President Trump involved in efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss

NEW: The Census Bureau's new acting chief information officer is John Studds, who has replaced Michael Thieme, according to the agency's website www.census.gov/about/leader...

NEW: A three-judge panel has refused to pause its order blocking Texas’ new Republican-friendly congressional map, as the state prepares to ask the Supreme Court to clear the way for the map to be used for the 2026 midterm election www.courtlistener.com/docket/60654...

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to discuss how it will handle a North Dakota case and a Mississippi case on whether private individuals and groups — whose lawsuits have been the main way of enforcing the Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 — can keep suing. ICYMI:

NEW: New York's highest court upholds the state's voting rights act by ruling that Newburgh, N.Y., does not have the legal capacity to challenge the law's constitutionality. The town is facing claims that its at-large voting system dilutes Black and Latino voters’ collective power

NEW: Justice Department asks to withdraw legal briefs it submitted to the 11th Circuit during the Biden administration for Voting Rights Act cases about Georgia's congressional and state legislative redistricting plans - www.courtlistener.com/docket/68084... - www.courtlistener.com/docket/69566...

NEW: Federal court allows the Alliance for Retired Americans, represented by @eliaslawgroup.bsky.social, to defend the Census Bureau in Florida-based lawsuit over the use of statistical technique to fill in missing census data about group-living quarters, as well as differential privacy protections

NEW: Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania is the 20th Senate Republican to cosponsor a bill calling for excluding people living in the states without US citizenship, such as green card holders, from #2030Census results that the 14th Amendment says must include “whole number of persons in each state”

NEW: 5th Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan nominee, has released an opinion on why he dissented from a three-judge court's ruling that blocks a Texas congressional map that may help Republicans in the 2026 midterms www.courtlistener.com/docket/60654...

BREAKING: A three-judge court blocks Texas from using the congressional map passed by its Republican-controlled legislature in August for the 2026 midterms as part of the gerrymandering fight sparked by President Trump. An appeal to the Supreme Court is expected www.courtlistener.com/docket/60654...

My latest @npr.org story: Some GOP-led states are making moves to change their 2026 midterm-election calendars to prepare for a potential Supreme Court ruling that may spark more gerrymandering by weakening the Voting Rights Act's Section 2 protections against racial discrimination in redistricting

On Nov. 4, Democratic Rep. @ross.house.gov of North Carolina introduced a House bill that calls for all states to make the congressional redistricting process more transparent by requiring a website, public hearings and a detailed public statement about the proposed final plan

NEW: University of South Florida College Republicans ask a federal judge to rule without a trial that a "new 2020 Census Report" is needed and that the #2030Census can't use a statistical technique to fill in any missing data about group-living quarters, as well as differential privacy protections

NEW: The Census Bureau says it's updating its calendar to reschedule data releases delayed by the federal government shutdown content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USC...

NEW: The U.S. Postal Service proposes raising its shipping prices starting Jan. 18, 2026, to help stabilize its finances. Prices would go up about 6.6% for Priority Mail, 5.1% for Priority Mail Express, 7.8% for USPS Ground Advantage and 6% for Parcel Select

NEW: "There are no proposals or plans to privatize the Postal Service," Amber McReynolds, chair of the USPS Board of Governors, said at the board's open meeting in response to multiple public comments against selling parts or all of the country's mail service to a private company

NEW: The U.S. Postal Service — which generally receives no tax dollars to keep running and relies on stamp and service fees — had a net loss of $9 billion in fiscal year 2025, a $500 million smaller loss than the previous year, CFO Luke Grossmann reported at the USPS governing board's open meeting