Census Bureau Director Rob Santos Tenders Resignation
On January 30, Census Bureau Director Robert Santos resigned three years into his five-year term. His resignation comes after the House Oversight Committee held a hearing on the Census Bureau on December 5 which largely focused on whether the 2030 Census should include a citizenship question and President Trump’s recent rescission of the Biden Administration’s Executive Order (EO) affirming that the census should count all people, not only citizens, as per the 14th Amendment (see previous COSSA coverage). As a reminder, during his first-term, the Trump Administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the decennial census only for the Supreme Court to block the order (see previous COSSA coverage).
Santos, having been the first person of color to serve as Director of the Census Bureau, is a distinguished statistician (see previous COSSA coverage). Before serving as Director, Santos served as the President of the American Statistical Association (ASA), a COSSA governing member (see previous COSSA coverage). He also participated in COSSA events, including a Headlines webinar from May 2024 titled Recent Developments at the Census Bureau.