dictionary

Supreme Court to hear Utah challenge to Census estimates

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a state challenge to a federal policy of estimating household size when census takers receive no information on how many people live in a home.

The case is brought by Utah, which barely lost out to North Carolina in gaining an additional seat in Congress because of population shifts reflected in the 2000 census.

The Supreme Court will not hear the case until next fall, and is not likely to rule until after the mid-term elections, so a victory by Utah would not have an effect on elections until 2004.

The high court may also conclude it does not have jurisdiction. The justices Tuesday said they would consider that issue when they hear arguments on the merits of Utah's challenge to census estimates.

IN-DEPTH • Justice Profiles • Supreme Court Home Page

LEGAL RESOURCES   FindLaw Supreme Court Center   • Court History   • The Justices   • Landmark Decisions FindLaw opinion database: Supreme Court opinions from 1893-2002 Search by party: Search by full-text:

Utah is claiming the Constitution requires an "actual enumeration" in its population count. The Census Bureau policy calls for an estimate of a household population on the basis of household size in the neighborhood, when repeated efforts to gain information on the residence are unsuccessful.

In the latest Utah case, a panel of three federal judges voted 2-1 in November to dismiss the state's lawsuit challenging the household estimation technique.

The lower court said it is reasonable to assume that households in the same neighborhood will be of similar size.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the state argued that the phrase "actual enumeration" means the Constitution's framers specifically ruled out guesswork.

The 435 House seats are redistributed according to state population after each decennial census.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has said the estimation method disproportionately benefited North Carolina, which picked up a seat in Congress after the head count.

The state also argued the estimation method is little different from another statistical tool called "sampling." The Supreme Court split 5-4 to rule in 1999 that sampled census numbers cannot be used to parcel out congressional seats.