Census 2000 Education Kit
Census 2000 Table of Contents
Background
- An Overview
- The Affect of an Undercount on Local Communities
- Children
- Workers And Their Families
- Education
- People of Color
- Individuals With Disabilities
- Senior Citizens
- Rural Areas
- Business
Census Bureau's Plan
- The Census Bureau's Plan For Census 2000
- Legal Challenges To Sampling
- How Do We Know There Is An Undercount?
- The Difference Between Redistricting and Reapportionment
- What The Experts Say
- What The Newspapers Say
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Importance Of The Ancestry Question
- Achieving Accuracy In The 2000 Census
Census History
Census 2000 In Your Community
The Difference Between Redistricting And Reapportionment
Many individuals use the terms "reapportionment" and "redistricting" interchangeably even though the two terms have very different policy implications, particularly with respect to the current debate over the decennial census. The following paragraphs exp lain this important distinction in greater detail.
Very simply, "reapportionment" is the division of congressional districts among the states whereas "redistricting" refers to the actual division (or drawing) of districts within a state.
Reapportionment
According to Federal statute, there are 435 congressional districts that comprise the U.S. House of Representatives. Following each decennial census, the total population of the United States (ascertained through the decennial census) is divided to determine the approximate number of people to be included in each congressional district. The 435 congressional districts of the U.S. House of Representatives are "apportioned" among the states under the U.S. Constitution and subsequent federal statutes.
Each state is guaranteed at least one congressional district regardless of population and the remaining districts are allocated according to a complicated mathematical population formula that distributes the representation as evenly as possible among the states. According to Title 13, U.S.C., the Secretary of Commerce is required to submit the state populations totals to the President within nine months of Census Day. Title 2, U.S.C. then requires the President to submit the apportionment to the Clerk of the House within five days of the convening of Congress in the new year.
Redistricting
Redistricting refers to the actual division of congressional districts or the drawing of congressional district lines within a state into new districts after each state has been apportioned its number of districts following each decennial census. The laws governing redistricting include state constitutions and/or statutes as well as Federal and State court decisions. Changes in boundaries therefore, are correctly described as "redistricting" rather than "reapportionment." Why this Distinction is Important
The Supreme Court recently issued a 5-4 opinion in a case involving the decennial census (Department of Commerce et al. V. U.S. House of Representatives et al. No. 98-404) where the majority of the court concluded that the proposed use of scientific statistical sampling to determine the population for purposes of apportionment seats among the states violates the Census Act
However, the opinion does not prohibit the use of sampling for other purposes, such as the allocation of federal funds and redistricting (the division of legislative seats within a state). In fact, the majority of the court emphasized that the 1976 amendments to Section 195 of the Census Act, "changed a provision that permitted the use of sampling for purposes other than apportionment into one that required that sampling be used for such purposes if "feasible." Slip op. At 23. Justices Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas joined Justice O'Connor. The Court's decision did not address the Constitutional issues.
Thus, so long as the Secretary of Commerce determines that the use of sampling is "feasible," he must use scientific sampling methods in the next census for all purposes other than the allocation of congressional seats among the states, according to current law.
