LegiStorm

Summary:

The release of the 2000 Census data for the apportionment of the House of Representatives among the states and the release of the state redistricting data to the states as required by P.L. 94-171 has renewed the decennial debate over several issues. First, the debate over the use of sampling to adjust the decennial population census data was not completely resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court decision that a federal statute prohibits the use of sampling to adjust the decennial census for the purposes of apportionment of the House of Representatives among the states. The Court did not hold that the adjustment of census data for other purposes, such as intrastate redistricting, was prohibited. Additionally, last year, the Census Bureau indicated that it would likely release both adjusted and unadjusted sets of data. In the wake of these developments, there were legislative efforts in many states to specify which data are to be used in intrastate redistricting. Controversy surrounded preclearance under the Voting Rights Act for some state laws. Meanwhile, the transition between Administrations resulted in a policy change concerning the release of adjusted census data for redistricting. Last year, the Secretary of Commerce promulgated a rule which delegated the decision to adjust the official decennial census figures to the Director of the Census Bureau and required the release of adjusted figures where the Secretary chose not to release them as the official redistricting data despite the recommendation of the Executive Steering Committee for Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Policy (ESCAP) to adjust the data. This year, the Secretary of Commerce under the new Administration rescinded that rule and took back the authority to decide to adjust state redistricting census data. The City of Los Angeles, joined by other municipalities, filed a suit challenging the anticipated change in policy on the grounds that proper rule-making procedures were not followed. The suit relied on the assumption that the ESCAP would recommend to adjust. However, on March 1, 2001, the Acting Director of the Census Bureau and ESCAP recommended not to adjust redistricting data; accordingly, on March 6, 2001, the Secretary announced the release of the unadjusted data. Since this appeared to render the Los Angeles suit moot, the City Attorney for Los Angeles announced that he would amend the complaint to add new allegations that the Secretary's decision is arbitrary and capricious and violates the Census Act, which requires the Secretary to use statistical sampling, where he considers it feasible, for purposes of the census other than apportionment of the House of Representatives. Congress has the constitutional authority to determine issues of census methodology, including whether or not the release of adjusted data suitable for intrastate redistricting purposes is feasible. Second, Utah has filed a suit challenging the apportionment of the House of Representatives on the grounds that expatriate Utahans, specifically missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, should have been included in the population count for Utah. Such an inclusion would have meant that Utah would have gained a congressional seat which went to North Carolina instead. Although the U.S. Supreme Court held previously that the Secretary of Commerce had the discretion to include overseas federal personnel in the apportionment census, it did not address the issue of whether other expatriates should be included as well, once the decision was made to include one segment of the expatriate population. Congress, however, has the authority to legislate census methodology with regard to the inclusion or exclusion of expatriates and categories of expatriates.