The Clinton Administration's Plan to Use Statistical Sampling in the 2000 Census Violates Constitutional, Federal Law Mandates

When it comes to the national census, we must count everybody, because everybody counts. The U.S. Constitution and federal law make it clear -- statistical sampling cannot be substituted for an actual count of the American people for apportioning Congress. No less than the foundation of representative government is at stake.
Two provisions of the U.S. Constitution mandate an "actual Enumeration" by "counting the whole number of persons of each State" in our decennial census. Statistical sampling violates both.

Article I, Sect. 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires an "actual Enumeration" of the entire population of the United States every ten years for the purpose of proportional representation in Congress. The 14th Amendment, Sect. 2, clarifies the mandated -- "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State..."
The Administration's plan for the 2000 Census is to conduct widespread statistical sampling rather than an actual count of at least 10 percent of the total U.S. population.
Congress is the constitutionally appointed guardian of the census.

Article I, Sect. 2 of the U.S. Constitution specifically delegates authority over the census to Congress, and that Congress may conduct the census "in such Manner as they [Congress] shall by Law direct."
Federal law clearly prohibits the use of statistical sampling for the apportionment of Congress.

Title 13 of the U.S. Code, commonly referred to as "The Census Act," is the proper grant of authority to the U.S. Department of Commerce to conduct the decennial census. 13 U.S.C.§ 141(a) broadly authorizes the Commerce Secretary to conduct the census "in such form and content as he may determine, including the use of sampling procedures..." 13 U.S.C.§ 195 clarifies specific congressional intent as to the use of sampling in the census: "[The Secretary] shall, if he considers it feasible, authorize the use of..sampling [except] for the determination of population for purposes of apportionment of Representatives." (emphasis added).
The federal statutes governing the conduct of the decennial census strictly forbid the use of statistical sampling for congressional apportionment. Congressional intent, and the federal law, are clear.
The Clinton/Daley plan for the 2000 census will deliberately not count 26.5 million people, or 10 percent of the population..
The Census 2000 Plan put forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce provides for 90 percent of the actual population to be counted. The remaining 10 percent, approximately 26.5 million people, will be statistically sampled and adjusted based solely on the judgment of the Census Bureau administrators.
The use of statistical sampling for the apportionment of Congress is unprecedented, subjecting the entire census-taking process to the political agenda of the executive in power. The potential impact on congressional representation is staggering.
Statistical sampling replaces an actual head count with projections based on "types" of people -- "virtual" people representing a "virtual" America.

Under the "best guess" approach proposed by the Commerce Department and Census Bureau, certain demographic groups allegedly undercounted will be statistically "puffed." Administrators will designate various "types" of people to represent large blocks of uncounted people and "project" the population numbers of that person-type.
Such estimates may be in error by as much as 35 percent at the smallest levels of the census -- the block level and tract level -- and will unfairly lump individuals into stereotypical groups, creating a virtual America based on virtual people.
While Congress has properly delegated the census-taking responsibility to the U.S. Commerce Department by law, it has made its intent clear -- statistical sampling cannot be used in determining population for congressional apportionment. Congress has not given away, and indeed cannot give away, the constitutional requirement that the census be an "actual Enumeration" by the "counting of the whole number of persons in each State."
The "right to be counted," coupled with the duty of each person to make themselves available for counting, is among our highest and most profound democratic obligations. By a stroke of a computer key, pro-sampling statisticians will have destroyed a pillar of representative government -- one person, one vote -- by substituting the anti-democratic, unconstitutional panacea of a virtual America.

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