Ed, I must admit I am a little confused. I thought
the latest Supreme
Court decision on this matter was that "sampling" (vs. counting) was
not to be used in redistricting.
What gives?
bob
Bob--you are absolutely right. The Supreme Court found that sampling
could not be used in coming up with the total count of the population
for allocation of Congressional seats. That was already done. What was
left undecided was allowing the states to use adjusted counts for
figuring out their Congressional districts or for allocating money. Some
states I believe went ahead and passed their own laws and prohibited the
use of adjusted numbers for their own districts. I don't know off hand
which ones. Some others couldn't because their state laws had provisions
tied to civil rights laws that said the US Justice Department has to
review and rule on the action. The Justice Department has not made any
rulings until they see what undercounts might be. Virginia, I believe
is a state that has to wait for a Justice Department Ruling. They tried
to pass a law and I think someone took it to court. A much more detailed
explanation of the Virginia situation be found at
http://www.census2000.org/news/01/jan5.html
Some of the earlier newsletters on the census 2000 site get into more
detail than what I just tried to pull from my head. They are at
http://www.census2000.org/news/
Hope this helps to clarify what is getting to be a legally messy issue.