Constitutional and Statutory Provisions Relevant to the Dispute
over the Citizenship Question on the Census
Enumeration Clause: Article I, Section 2
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the
several states which may be included within this union, according
to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding
to the whole number of free persons, including those bound
to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed,
three fifths of all other Persons. 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. .
. .
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 2
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed.
The Census Act: 13 U.S. Code § 141. Population and other
census information
(a) The Secretary [of Commerce] shall, in the year 1980 and
every 10 years thereafter, take a decennial census of
population as of the first day of April of such year,
which date shall be known as the “decennial census date”, in
such form and content as he may determine, including the
use of sampling procedures and special surveys. In connection
with any such census, the Secretary is authorized to obtain such
other census information as necessary.
Enacted Oct. 17, 1976
The Census Act: 13 U.S. Code § (Section) 5. Questionnaires;
number, form, and scope of inquiries.
The Secretary [of Commerce] shall prepare questionnaires, and
shall determine the inquiries, and the number, form, and
subdivisions thereof, for the statistics, surveys, and censuses
provided for in this title.
Enacted Aug. 31, 1954
Administrative Procedure Act: 5 U.S.C. § 706 (Scope of
Review)
To the extent necessary to decision and when presented, the
reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law,
interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine
the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action.
The reviewing court shall-
(1) compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably
delayed; and
(2) hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and
conclusions found to be-
(A) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or
otherwise not in accordance with law;
(B) contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or
immunity;
(C) in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or
limitations, or short of statutory right;
(D) without observance of procedure required by law;
(E) unsupported by substantial evidence in a case subject to
sections 556 and 557 of this title or otherwise reviewed on the
record of an agency hearing provided by statute; or
(F) unwarranted by the facts to the extent that the facts are
subject to trial de novo by the reviewing court.
In making the foregoing determinations, the court shall review
the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party, and due
account shall be taken of the rule of prejudicial error.
Fifth Amendment
Due Process Clause (the source of the equal protection
guarantee)
“No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law”
Equal
Protection Clause: Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1
All persons born or naturalized
in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein
they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens
of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws.