According to The Washington Times, the battle over the 2010 Census is just beginning. According to the U. S. Constitution:
"Representation and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers ... . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."
-- Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States
Michael Barone points out in U. S. News & World Report that:
"Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution provides for an "actual enumeration" and a statute passed by Congress provides that the duties under this clause are to be performed by the secretary of commerce. Article I (as Joseph Biden didn't know in debate) is about the legislative, not the executive branch. Hence, it is argued, the president can't substitute a sampling for the enumeration required to be done by the secretary."
According to the Washington Times article:
"The Obama administration is downplaying how closely the White House would oversee the Census Bureau. The White House on Wednesday said Mr. Obama is committed to a "complete and accurate count through a process that is free from politicization." But Thursday, Mr. LaBolt added: "As they have in the past, White House senior management will work closely with the census director given the number of decisions that will need to reach the president's desk."
Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said not so.
"We checked with the Congressional Research Service, and there is no precedent for this, despite what the administration might say," he asserted."
The Republicans are threatening to go to the Courts if President Obama moves the oversight of the 2010 Census to the White House. The following is a statement from the U. S. Census Bureau on the importance of the Census:
"Still, apportionment of Congress is only half the process of distributing political power. Virtually all states rely on the census numbers for redistricting, the redrawing of political districts within the states after apportionment. However, innovations were needed to make sure every state that wanted to use census data had access to the information it needed. After the 1970 census, state officials complained that the results did not include summary data for local areas such as election precincts and wards. These areas are the essential building blocks for creating new districts and meeting the "one-person-one-vote" requirements of the Supreme Court."
Manipulating the Census numbers would do serious harm to the principle of "one man, one vote". For the sake of the health of our democracy (actually we are a representative republic), the Census should be as accurate as possible.
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