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Gingrich Files Suit to Prevent Sampling in 2000 Census
According to a report in the February 22nd issue of The New York Times, Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has filed a lawsuit to prevent the Clinton Administration from using statistical sampling in the 2000 Census. The suit was filed February 20th and alleges that statistical sampling violates the U.S. Constitution, which states that the population should be determined by an "actual enumeration" of people. The lawsuit is the latest move in the political and legal controversy that surrounds the Census Bureau's plans to use sampling to estimate the nation's polulation, rather than try to count every person.
Sampling proponents point out the the Justice Departments under three Presidents - Carter, Bush, and Clinton - have determined that sampling is legal. The U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on the constitutional merits of sampling.
The issue is perceived to have significant political implications. The Census Bureau wants to avoid the debacle of the 1990 census, when more than 10 million people were uncounted and 6 million more were counted twice or in the wrong location. Many of those missed were minority group members in central cities. And, according to the Times, many Republicans fear that sampling will lead to redrawing election districts in the Democrats' favor.
In return for allowing the House to vote on a major spending bill last November, the White House allowed Mr. Gingrich to sue to see whether the Federal courts would enjoin sampling. Moreover, the agreement authorized the spending of whatever was necessary to bring the suit - a use of taxpayer dollars that dismays sampling proponents. The article was written by Steven Holmes and appears on page 21.