Census 2010

from The New York Times

Notice how the U.S. Census Bureau quotes the obsolete phrase of Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution which has been supplanted by the Fourteenth Amendment. We now count "the whole number of persons in each State." - Nate.

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Census

Updated: Feb. 20, 2009 - Copyright © 2009 The New York Times

"Representation and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers ... . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."

— Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States (Via the U.S. Census Bureau)

While most Americans do not think much about the census, it looms large in the lives of the nation's political leaders, with the next decennial nose-count due in 2010. The constitutionally mandated "enumeration" determines how many seats each state gets in the House of Representatives, and helps to determine where the district lines are drawn within each state. It will also shift billions upon billions of federal dollars over the next decade from some parts of the country to others because of population-driven financing formulas.

The parties have been at loggerheads for years over how to conduct the census. Most everyone agrees that the traditional method - mail-back surveys and door-knocking follow-ups - fails to count millions of Americans. Democrats argue that the solution is to use statistical sampling models to extrapolate figures for the uncounted people. If minorities, immigrants, the poor and the homeless are the most likely to be undercounted, then such sampling would presumably benefit the Democrats.

Republicans, for their part, argue that statistical sampling is unreliable and that the Constitution mandates an actual count. In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, that under current law, sampling techniques could not be used to reapportion House seats from one state to another. But some experts still believe that it could be used in drawing district lines within the states, and to determine money flows.

Article Copyright © 2009 The New York Times