The task of printing forms for the 2020 census was already enormous and difficult, with an immovable once-a-decade deadline mandated by the Constitution.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court made the printing of census forms — a job held by one company, R.R. Donnelley — even more onerous.

Over decades in Chicago, R.R. Donnelley has printed best-selling novels, direct mail, copies of The New Yorker and Sears catalogs. Now the company has been left to grapple with the uncertainty and logistical nightmare of meeting a looming printing deadline.