Donald Trump’s scheme to manipulate US Census data to swing Congressional votes and federal funding away from states–primarily Democratic–with large populations of undocumented immigrants has died an ignoble death, the Associated Press reports.

In a document filed in a California federal court on Monday relating to a case filed against the Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau, the Department of Justice acknowledged that the earliest date the data will be available to the White House would be February 9th, twenty days after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Trump, who Senate testimony shows is experienced in maintaining two sets of books for his businesses, had planned to develop two sets of numbers on the data:  one would reflect the total population, and the second would exclude a calculated number of claimed undocumented immigrants.  That second set would be used to determine Congressional reapportionment, as well as the share of federal funds states may be eligible for.  Lower population means fewer House representatives and less federal funding.

But Trump’s own mismanagement led to his scheme’s downfall.  The Trump Administration delayed deploying door knockers partly because of the pandemic and partly due to wanting to reduce the time they could complete census surveys.

That triggered a domino effect, delaying the data processing of the information and increasing errors in calculations, which would normally be completed by December 31st.

The DoJ lawyers have been delaying in turning over key documents in the California lawsuit, brought by immigrant rights groups and municipal groups who demanded an accurate count.