In a post on Tuesday, I said that in light of Judge Furman’s ruling, I thought the Supreme Court would end up getting rid of the current census case before it, because the issue there is basically moot. Today the Court took a big step in that direction by taking the case off the argument calendar and suspending further briefing.

I expect the government will soon as the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of Judge Furman’s ruling directly, bypassing the Second Circuit. And given that this issue has to be decided by June for the printing of the census forms, I expect the Supreme Court will take that case.

Stay tuned.