Lower Court Holding
Decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
In Wisconsin v. New York (1996), the Supreme Court addressed a challenge to the Secretary of Commerce’s decision not to adjust statistically the headcount results from the 1990 enumeration. In holding that the Secretary’s decision was "entirely reasonable," the Court noted the "virtually unlimited discretion" that the Secretary has over the census by virtue of Congress’s broad delegation through the Census Act. However, the Court expressly noted that it was not being called upon to decide "whether the Constitution might prohibit Congress from conducting the type of statistical adjustment considered here" or "the precise bounds of the authority delegated to…
