And the timing will make this even more of a mess:

President Trump must deliver Secretary Ross's report, with apportionment tabulations, to Congress within a week after its new members are sworn in on January 3, 2021.

Imagine Biden wins in November while Dems retain House and take control of the Senate.

You think Congress is going to accept Trump's new policy when he's only got days left in office?

Second question below becomes super relevant then. https://twitter.com/MikeSacksEsq/status/1285634501327159296

But then there remains the question of Congressional standing (an argument that will be at its strongest if House and Senate speak in one voice), and then who will represent the Executive Branch when the Biden Admin abandons the Trump Policy.

And it could get even weirder: if a Biden admin wants to present Congress with a new report (perhaps it spent the transition writing one up if the Trump admin plays along, but why would it?), can Congress accept it? Deadline is 10 days before he'd be inaugurated!

So we'd be left with an orphaned policy that Congress won't adopt, perhaps can't sue over, with no one to defend it (would sympathetic states have standing or even ability to sub in as interveners for the Trump admin?), and an admin time-barred from submitting new report

If Trump wins, it would be less messy, but the Congressional standing issue, as well as the issue of whether it has the power to reject the President's apportionment calculations, will remain.

And there will also be the ACLU et al lawsuits over Q 1&3 here https://twitter.com/MikeSacksEsq/status/1285634501327159296?s=20

Meanwhile, the Trump Admin in April had asked Congress to push back the report deadline https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/trump-administration-asks-congress-to-push-back-census-by-months/2020/04/13/f6303052-7de7-11ea-a3ee-13e1ae0a3571_story.html

In May, Rep. Maloney and Sen. Harris each introduced bills that would give the Admin till May 2021 to submit its report https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr7034/BILLS-116hr7034ih.pdf

So if Congress passes this bill and the President signs it, the timing issues become less of a problem.

But now you'd think the Trump admin would want to abandon it COVID-related request for an extension so it can get this policy through... https://twitter.com/MikeSacksEsq/status/1285640612490944515?s=20

I'd say this whole thing really is just Trump's play to the base for the elections, but it's not: it's part of a Republican effort going back at least a decade to preserve power by clearing the way for, if not mandating, citizen-voting-age-popular apportionment