810
Opinion of Stevens, J.
whatsoever of an intention to introduce a layer of Executive discretion between the taking of the census and the application of the reapportionment formula. The intention was exactly the contrary: to make the apportionment proceed automatically based on the census.
The statutory scheme creates an interlocking set of responsibilities for the Secretary and the President. The Secretary of Commerce is required to take a "decennial census of population as of the first day of April of [every tenth] year, which date shall be known as the 'decennial census date.' " 13 U. S. C. § 141(a). The Secretary reports the collected information to the President, see § 141(b), who is directed to "transmit to the Congress" a statement showing the population of each State "as ascertained under the seventeenth and each subsequent decennial census . . . ." 2 U. S. C. §2a(a). The plain language of the statute demonstrates that the President has no substantive role in the computation of the census. The Secretary takes the "decennial census," and the President performs the apportionment calculations and transmits the census figures and apportionment results to Congress.
In the face of this clear statutory mandate, the Court must fall back on an argument based on statutory silence. The Court insists that there is no law prohibiting the President from changing the census figures after he receives them from the Secretary. The Court asserts: "Section 2a does not expressly require the President to use the data in the Secretary's report, but, rather, the data from the 'decennial census.'" Ante, at 797 (emphasis added). This statement is difficult to comprehend, for it purports to contrast two terms that the statute equates. The "decennial census" is the name the statute gives to the information collected by the
better to name a constitutional officer rather than a statutory officer. I have quite no pride of opinion at that point and I think it makes quite no difference, because everybody will get the same answer when we undertake to do that problem in arithmetic." 71 Cong. Rec. 1613 (1929).
Page: Index Previous 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007