Hansi Lo Wang points to a July 3 census filing under the Paperwork Reduction Act (the weeds matter, people) in which the Department of Commerce, “having carefully considered the matter, has determined that there is not sufficient time to develop an alternative record to support inclusion of the citizenship question.”  That would have been really awkward to explain in another return to the courts.

The same paragraph also says that the Secretary has directed the Census Bureau to “produce citizen voting-age population (CVAP) information prior to April 1, 2021 that states may use in redistricting.”