High Court OKs Keeping ’90 Census Count

In a setback for Los Angeles, New York and other major cities, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that federal officials need not adjust the 1990 census to make up for an apparent undercount of blacks and other minorities.

Two years ago, a federal appeals court in New York said that the government violated the Constitution’s equal-treatment guarantee by using census figures that “disproportionately undercount” the poor and minorities.

If upheld, the ruling could have brought tens of millions of dollars annually in extra federal funding to Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, the three cities that sued over the census undercount. California would also have picked up an extra seat in Congress.

But in a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court overturned that decision and said that federal authorities have “broad authority” to conduct the census without second-guessing by judges.

“The Constitution vests Congress with virtually unlimited discretion in conducting the decennial ‘actual Enumeration,’ ” wrote Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. “In 1990, the Census Bureau made an extraordinary effort to conduct an accurate enumeration and was successful in counting 98.4% of the population.”

Although the decision was not the result that the cities had wanted, it did leave the door open for a different kind of census count in the future. Rehnquist did not say that the government must rely on an “actual count” of persons for the census. Rather, he said, Congress and the Commerce Department have the authority to decide how to conduct the census.

Clinton administration officials said that they were pleased with that aspect of the court’s opinion. The Census Bureau intends to use some statistical sampling in the next census in 2000.

“This won’t be a substitute for the actual count. It will be a supplement. We think it will give us one number that is right the first time,” said Commerce Undersecretary Everett Ehrlich.

Under the current plan, census- takers will revisit one of every 10 households that fails to return the census form. The number of extra persons found by this method will be multiplied by 10, and this will yield a more accurate total, officials believe.

Wednesday’s ruling (Wisconsin vs. City of New York, 94-1614) ends an eight-year legal battle over the 1990 census.

Beginning in 1988, city officials in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago urged the Commerce Department to use statistical estimates to improve the accuracy of their counts in the major cities. By intensively recounting some city blocks and extrapolating those numbers to larger areas, statisticians said, the government could improve the reliability of its figures in urban areas.

In both 1980 and 1990, officials estimate that roughly 5% of the black and Latino population was not counted.

But the Commerce Department under President Reagan refused to approve statistical sampling and in 1991 Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher refused to adjust the figures to make up for the undercount.

Democrats suspected a political motive. Adjusted figures would have given more political clout to cities with large traditionally Democratic constituencies.

Mosbacher said that statisticians were divided on how best to adjust the numbers, and he chose to stick with the actual counts.

The cities sued in forcing an adjustment.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan said that he was disappointed with the outcome.

“As a result of the undercounting, the city of Los Angeles has lost more than $150 million in per capita federal funding alone,” Riordan said.

In 1990, the Census Bureau said that 3,485,398 people lived in the city of Los Angeles.

But city officials said that sampling techniques would have shown 3,624,206.

This increase of roughly 3% would have resulted in the city getting a greater share of both federal and state funds.

But Riordan said he was pleased that the Census Bureau “is taking concrete steps to ensure that the next census will more accurately measure our population.”