December 12, 2018
We are writing to you as representatives of organizations whose members include census data users from the public, private, and academic sectors to communicate our interest in protecting census data confidentiality.
As you know, internal Department of Justice (DoJ) documents recently released as part of the New York vs. Department of Commerce case show that senior DOJ officials refused, in response to a question from Congress earlier this year, to confirm a 2010 Office of Legal Counsel ruling that no provisions of the USA Patriot Acti supersede Census Act (Title 13 U.S.C.) data confidentiality protections, even for law enforcement or national security purposes. This development alarms our organizations.