Census Bureau ordered to release undercount figures
By The Associated Press
10.10.02
PORTLAND, Ore. — Billions of government dollars could potentially be redirected to poor and minority communities after a federal appeals court ruled the Census Bureau must release figures that show how many people may have been missed in the 2000 population count.
In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the public is entitled under federal open-government law to see the adjusted figures for every state, county and neighborhood in the nation.
Democrats, big-city politicians and civil rights groups have charged that the 2000 census missed 3.2 million people — most of them minorities and the poor — and that many communities are being shortchanged government funding that is distributed by population.
The ruling mandates only that the Census Bureau release the adjusted figures. It does not actually force the bureau to use those numbers in place of the unadjusted figures that were issued for political redistricting and the distribution of billions in federal funding.
A 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling bars the use of adjusted numbers for reapportioning congressional seats.
However, the Census Bureau has left open the possibility of using adjusted data for federal funding in the future. And state and local governments would be free to use the adjusted numbers for redistricting and for distributing tax dollars, unless the laws there say otherwise.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., welcomed the Oct. 8 ruling.
"There are many people who have doubts about the Census Bureau's decision and the way the Bush administration made the decision," she said. "This information would help scientists and the public better judge for themselves whether they made the right decision or not."
The court rejected Census Bureau arguments that releasing the data would expose sensitive internal debates and have a "chilling effect" on future policy discussions at the agency.
Census Bureau officials declined to comment and referred calls to the Justice Department, where spokesman Charles Miller said no decision has been made on whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. He would not comment on the ruling itself.
After census takers and census questionnaires were sent out in 2000, the Census Bureau used mathematical formulas to estimate how many minorities, renters and others might have been missed in inner cities, rural areas and other places. Those figures are often called the "undercount."
But the Census Bureau refused to release the undercount, contending the adjusted figures are unreliable and would cause political battles over federal funding. The bureau has instead been releasing only the unadjusted population counts arrived at through census takers and questionnaires.
The case went to court after Oregon state Sens. Susan Castillo and Margaret Carter, both Democrats, filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see the adjusted population figures. The Census Bureau asked for an exception to the law.
U.S. District Judge James A. Redden of Portland ordered the government last November to release the undercount. But the government appealed.
A decade ago, the Census Bureau also tried to withhold the adjusted count for the 1990 census, but the California Legislature went to court to demand its release. The numbers were disclosed after the 9th Circuit rejected similar arguments.