Here's one for the Zanity thread.
Good news! The Corruptocrats can't fake the Census!
U.S. Court Rejects Census Sampling
By James Vicini
Reuters
Monday, Aug. 24, 1998; 1:45 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON, Aug 24 - A federal court dealt the Clinton
administration a major defeat on Monday by ruling that the U.S. 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."
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