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From: Tracey Converse <>
Subject: [GenChat-L] Court Rejects Census Bureau Statistical Plan
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 09:25:27 -0500

Court Rejects Census Bureau Statistical Plan

By James Vicini
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Aug. 24) - A federal court dealt the Clinton administration a
major defeat on Monday by ruling that the Census Bureau may not use
statistical sampling in compiling a national head count for the 2000 census.

The special three-judge panel unanimously sided with House of
Representatives Republicans, who filed a lawsuit challenging the Census
Bureau sampling plan to produce the population figures, which are used to
draw political boundaries.

The ruling was the latest development in a long battle between the
Democratic administration and congressional Republicans over how the next
census should be conducted. The figures are compiled every 10 years.

The Census Bureau argued that it could produce the most accurate numbers by
combining its traditional head-counting methods with a statistical sample,
which uses data from a random selection of households to produce a total
population figure.

Sampling most likely would add population to cities and other areas that
tend to vote Democratic, and would help Democrats more than Republicans in
the drawing of new political boundaries, especially for the U.S. House of
Representatives.

''This court finds that the use of statistical sampling to determine the
population for purposes of the apportionment of representatives in Congress
among the states violates the Census Act,'' U.S. District Judge Royce
Lamberth declared.

He also issued an order permanently barring the Census Bureau from using
any form of statistical sampling.

The sweeping 71-page ruling was written by Lamberth, a Republican
appointee, and joined by appeals court Judge Douglas Ginsburg, another
Republican appointee, and District Judge Ricardo Urbina, a Clinton appointee.

The ruling can be appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could
take up the case when it returns in October from its summer recess.

A Justice Department spokesman said the ruling would be reviewed and that
no decision had yet been made on an appeal.

The U.S. Constitution calls for an ''actual enumeration'' of the nation's
population. The ruling, however, was based not on constitutional grounds,
but instead held that the sampling plan violated the Census Act which had
been adopted by Congress.

The sampling method would involve sending census takers to some households
that do not return census forms. The Census Bureau proposed that method
after determining that the 1990 count missed more than eight million
people, mostly racial and ethnic minorities living in cities.

House Democrats and a group of city, county and state governments supported
the administration in the case. The census figures also are used to
distribute federal and state money and any undercounting of minorities
would deprive cities of money.

The lawsuit challenging the Census Bureau plan was filed in February by
Republicans led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.

Lamberth in the first part of his opinion said the lawmakers have legal
standing to sue, ruling that the House ''has a concrete and particularised
interest in its lawful composition.'' He added, ''In sum, the injuries
(from the new census) are now imminent.''

Tracey Converse
FREE Genealogy Forms Online!!!
<http://www.genrecords.com/>http://www.genrecords.com

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