The US House of Representatives is suing the Commerce Department in a clash over the way the government conducts the census. Commerce wants to use a "statistical sampling" method for the head count in 2000. The House, whose political representation and balance of power are based on census figures, prefers an individual tally. A three-judge panel on Thursday heard mind-numbing arguments and definitions of archaic Constitutional wording -- is the phrase "actual enumeration" to mean "numbering up" or counting one-by-one? -- and gave no indication when it would resolve the matter.
Census Flap
The US House of Representatives is suing the Commerce Department in a clash over the way the government conducts the census. Commerce wants to use a "statistical sampling" method for the head count in 2000. The House, whose political representation and balance of power are based on census figures, prefers an individual tally. A three-judge panel on Thursday heard mind-numbing arguments and definitions of archaic Constitutional wording -- is the phrase "actual enumeration" to mean "numbering up" or counting one-by-one? -- and gave no indication when it would resolve the matter.
