High Court To Consider Census Case

Utah's suit challenges the method the U.S. Census Bureau used to count the population to compensate for unreturned forms.

Utah appealed after a U.S. District Court three-judge panel dismissed its case against the Census Bureau in November.

Hoping the court will rule in its favor, Utah has already completed a new plan for the 4th Congressional District the state would gain.

North Carolina's recently drawn U.S. congressional districts are contingent on the case's outcome.

Paul Murphy, director of communications for the Utah Office of the Attorney General, said the Census Bureau used hot-deck imputation procedures -- population sampling methods -- that are unconstitutional.

Murphy said that when the Census Bureau was unable to verify residency in a specific house, it counted the amount of people living next door as a means to determine a population.

He said this methodology incorrectly accounted for a number of people.

Murphy said the process, which officials used in both Utah and North Carolina, gave the latter 30,000 more people and an extra House seat.

"If you eliminate the hot-deck imputation, Utah would get the additional seat," he said.

Utah unsuccessfully challenged the results of the 2000 Census earlier, claiming that federal officials should have counted all abroad residents and not just soldiers or federal employees.

Murphy said he is optimistic about the case's outcome for the state of Utah.

"We're hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will follow the constitutional requirement of an actual count," he said. "I think it's important for the U.S. Supreme Court to clearly define what it takes to take a census."

But UNC political science Professor Thad Beyle said the Census regularly estimates residents who do not return the form by accounting for the number of neighbors, the process that Utah questions.

"The Census Bureau had been using that for some time," Beyle said.

But Utah is claiming that this method is a variation of sampling, which estimates a region's population based on a small subgroup of people.

Beyle said the Supreme Court has ruled that sampling is unconstitutional in the past.

If the court rules in favor of Utah, Beyle said the N.C. General Assembly could be forced to return to session early to redraw the House districts with 12 seats instead of 13.

He said that if Utah gains the seat, the representative who wins it is likely to be Republican, while if North Carolina retains the seat, it will most likely be held by a Democrat.

Beyle added that if the court rules in Utah's favor, many other states might question their congressional districts.

"There (are) some clear political aspects to this."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.